Speaking of the Turks

SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

SPEAKING OF
THE TURKS

BY

MUFTY-ZADE K. ZIA BEY

NEW YORK

DUFFIELD AND COMPANY
1922

Copyright, 1922, by

DUFFIELD 8c COMPANY

Printed in U. S. A.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Homecoming . 3

II. Summer Months 16

III. Erenkeuy 29

IV. Modern Turkish Women 47

V. Life on the Bosphorus 67

VI. Stamboul 87

VII. Business in Constantinople . . . . . 107

VIII. A Stamboul Night 127

IX. A Night in Pera 145

X. Constantinople, 1922 161

XI. Robert College 183

XII. Education and Art 204

XIII. A Glimpse of Islam 224

XIV. A Voice from Anatolia 245

50i

o

SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Speaking of The Turks

i

HOMECOMING

XXTE were arriving at Constantinople, my native
city, from which I had been absent nearly
ten years. I had been in America all this time.
At first my business interests and later the gen-
eral war had prevented my coming back to my
own country even on a visit. I was of military
age and Turkey was under blockade. When I
had left Constantinople a few years after the
Turkish revolution, the whole country was exhil-
arated, filled with joy, with ambition and with
hope. Freedom and emancipation from an auto-
cratic domination had been obtained. Nothing
was to prevent the normal advance of Turkey and
the Turks along the road to progress. We were
at last to obtain full recognition as a civilized
nation. We were at last to receive equal treat-
ment from the other European nations.

But, alas, during the following years the gods
decided otherwise. Long, interminable wars either
waged or fomented by neighbouring enemies
had hampered the progress of Turkey. First in

I SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Tripolitania, then in Arabia and Albania, then
again in the Balkans and finally during the gen-
eral war the Turkish nation had been nearly bled
to death. And now I was returning to my country,
and my native city was groaning under a domi-
nation a thousand times worse even than autoc-
racy: the domination of victorious foreign coun-
tries !

Yet I was elated; homecoming is always excit-
ing and the entrance to Constantinople by boat is
always intoxicating. Besides, I was newly mar-
ried. My young bride — an American girl from
New Orleans — was with me and I was anxious
to show her my country so maligned by the inter-
national press.

Our boat stopped at the Point of the Seraglio
and a tug brought the Inter-Allied control on
board. The ship's manifesto and the passports
of all passengers had to be examined by the rep-
resentatives of the foreign armies of occupation.
I was the only Turk on board and my wife and I
travelled of course on a Turkish passport. We
had been obliged to obtain a special permit from
the Inter-Allied authorities before we could even
start home. I took my turn with my wife, in the
line of passengers. We showed our passport to
the officer in charge: he glanced at it and seeing
it was Turkish, asked us to wait. Our passport
was in perfect order, but I believe that just for
the pleasure of humiliating a Turk the officer de-

HOMECOMING 5

cided to examine everybody else's passport before
mine, and kept me waiting till the last. An
Italian friend of mine who happened to travel
with us, stood near us to vouch for me in case
of need. I was coming back to my own country
and I might need the assistance of a foreigner!
Poor Turkey, what had happened to you! Poor
Turks, what had become of our illusions of ten
years ago which .made us believe that being at
last a free and democratic country we would be
recognized as a civilized nation, and would receive
equal treatment from the other European nations.
Our hopes were being systematically trampled un-
der the spurred heels of foreigners, whose one
desire seemed to be to eradicate for ever even our
self-respect, the better to destroy our freedom, the
better to hamper our march toward progress, the
better to annihilate our national independence!

The Inter- Allied officer had humiliated me: he
could do nothing more — my passport was in order.
The boat proceeded into the harbour.

The magnificent panorama of the Bosphorus
and of the Golden Horn unfolded once more be-
fore my eyes. I tried to forget the incident of
the passport with all its disheartening significance.
The view was too sublime, the moment too thrill-
ing to attach too much importance to an occur-
rence which had already passed. I turned my
attention to pointing out to my wife the resplen-
dent charm of our surroundings. We were enter-

6 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

ing within the water gate of an Eternal City — the
queen of two continents — the coveted prize of all
nations — which, to make it the more desirable,
God had endowed with the most gorgeous beauty.

Under our eyes Asia and Europe were uniting
in a passionate embrace. Historic monuments,
palaces and mosques emerged under the clear
blue sky of the Orient, curving their shining
domes, raising their slender minarets as if point-
ing to God, the Merciful. The City was shrouded
in an atmosphere of peace and calm, Constanti-
nople was reposing in her timeless dignity . . .
but the harbour was filled with foreign warships
in horrid contrast with the setting. Motor boats
and chasers glided busily through a maze of
dreadnaughts and cruisers deadly gray in a mist
of colour ! Battleships were lying at anchor, their
decks cleared for action, their guns turned on
the City! My thrill changed to a shudder, I
winced.

"Never mind, Zia," said my wife, gently placing
her hand on my arm, "every one has his day. A
country cannot die, a nation cannot forever be
enslaved. Patience and untiring work will lead
Turkey to progress. And to-morrow the Turks
will have their day!"

Her understanding braced me. Progress, yes,
progress! But had we progressed in the midst
of ten years of fighting, could we progress during
this interminable state of war which had not

HOMECOMING 7

ceased even since the armistice? Patience, yes,
patience! But could we be patient and work un-
tiringly under the present conditions?

I took my wife to my father's residence. He
lived then in Nishan Tash, in a house on a hill,
surrounded by a garden, overlooking the Bos-
phorus. The house was large, but our family is
large too, especially when it comes to living to-
gether under the same roof. My father wanted
us to settle with him. Family bonds are very
strong in Turkey and the Turks have retained
to a large degree the old idea of clans. Large
homes dating from the old days, designed to shel-
ter all the members of one family and their chil-
dren, are still in use in Constantinople. It is true
that the high cost of living and the restricted
housing facilities — caused by a series of fires, by
the influx of war refugees and by the foreign
invasion — have contributed to perpetuate to this
date this system of cohabitation. It is true that
even families not related to each other now live
together for economy's sake. But the custom
originated in the clan spirit and its continuation is
principally due to the strength of the bonds attach-
ing the members of one family to each other.

Traditions have been most carefully respected
in my father's famliy, as in all genuine old Turkish
families. We have adopted or adapted as the
case may be, any and all of the western cus-

8 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

toms which are compatible with the Orient. But
we still jealously preserve certain quaint customs
characteristic of the old Turkish civilization. The
relations between the members of our family re-
main as in the past: most intimate and cordial,
although outwardly somewhat ceremonious. And
the family has stuck together as much as the cos-
mopolitanism of its members and their frequent
travels permitted. This blending of Eastern and
Western customs, of Oriental and Occidental edu-
cation and mode of living is a very natural occur-
rence in Turkish families such as ours. Identified
with official positions which have placed them for
generations in continuous touch with surrounding
European countries and with the Western world,
they had the duty at the same time of perpetuating
Turkish traditions and the desire of assimilating
any part of Western customs and education they
deemed compatible with their own. Our family's
governmental service dated back to the fifteenth
century when it had been appointed "mufty" of
Western Albania. By hereditary right it had
ever since then to personify, represent and propa-
gate Turkish customs and education in that out-
lying province of the Empire where it exerted a
sort of political-religious governorship. But the
constant relation with the Italians, Austrians, Dal-
matians and Croatians of the neighbouring states
gave it an opportunity to learn, appreciate and
assimilate certain Western ideals. In recent years

HOMECOMING 9

this double influence of the East and the West
became if anything more pronounced. My grand-
father having died when my uncle and my father
were very young, they were brought up by my
grandmother, and the dear old lady succeeded so
thoroughly in her task that she had the satisfac-
tion of seeing, before she died, her two sons rep-
resenting at the same time their country as Am-
bassador to France and Ambassador to Italy. The
delicate Oriental touch imparted by this lady of
another age is still to-day very much alive in mem-
bers of the family. Although a man of a certain
age and having filled the highest dignities in the
Government, my father still to-day gets up re-
spectfully when my uncle — his elder brother —
enters the room. Although we discuss freely
any subject among ourselves, without distinc-
tion of age, although the greatest cordiality and
intimacy exists between all of us, none of the
younger members of the family would, for in-
stance, think of smoking before one of his seniors
unless he had been especially invited to do so.
Although each of us travels extensively and at
times lives far away for years, the ties uniting us
to each other are as strong and as "clannish" as
they were generations ago.

So my father wanted us to live with him. But
it happened that most of the family were then
gathered in Constantinople. Besides our immedi-
ate family numbering four, my uncle, his wife,

io SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

their daughter and a cousin were in town and
lived with my father. And two old servants who
had been so long with us that they were now part
of the family also shared the same roof. Old ser-
vants are an immovable institution in Turkey.
After years of service they acquire a standing al-
most equal to that of a member of the family.
They have their own establishment, they do not do
any work except watching over the hired men, and
they would feel insulted if they were paid any
salary. They ask for money when they need
it. They are really part of the family. One of
the old servants who was then with my father had
been the nurse of my mother, and had married
many years ago — at which time she had been
given a little house comfortably furnished. At
the death of her husband she felt so lonely —
they had no children — that she sold her house and
came back to us. She has lived with us ever
since and considers us all as her adopted children !

So while the house in Nishan Tash was quite
large it was nevertheless full ; and much to the
regret of every one of us we decided that we
would visit there only until we could find a place
of our own.

This was a difficult task. All the principal
houses, all the best apartments had been requisi-
tioned by foreign officers belonging to the Inter-
Allied armies of occupation, by their retinues and
by their friends. We were shown many small,

HOMECOMING n

dirty cubby-holes in Pera, which Greek and Ar-
menian owners were eager to rent us at prices
even higher than those prevailing in New York.
In Stamboul there was no place to be had, more
than two-thirds of the city having been destroyed
by fire. We were just about deciding to settle
in a hotel, when at last we had the good luck
to fall upon a Greek couple who had suddenly de-
cided to get a divorce. No foreign officers had
yet heard of it. The house was situated in a
populous Greek section but was otherwise all right
and it had a bathroom which is more than can
be said of the houses and apartments in Pera.
The Greeks and Armenians evidently do not con-
sider bathrooms as a necessity. In fact I believe
that the bathroom in this house — although in the
cellar — has greatly contributed to make of the
place an American headquarters ever since we
gave it up.

Anyhow we took the place and we settled in
it as best we could. Of course my father, my
mother and my brother became our frequent visi-
tors. My sister came to live with us so that my
wife would not be too lonely when I was out
during business hours. We were in a Greek sec-
tion and not one of the best. A lady alone may
be quite safe in Stamboul or even in a lonely house
in the suburbs. But in Pera, in the midst of
the riff-raff, it is not quite safe to leave her alone
even during the day. My sister is about the same

12 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

age as my wife and speaks fluently English,
French, Italian, German and of course Turkish.
This knowledge of foreign languages is not extra-
ordinary in Turkey where everybody speaks at least
three or four. But it made her very useful until
my wife could pick up Turkish. It interested me
beyond words to see how easy, after all, it is to
establish good understanding between two people
of a certain education, no matter how far apart
their racial origins may be, no matter how little
each one knows of the other's customs, breeding
and upbringing. Language is enough to avoid
serious misunderstanding, personal contact is
enough to bridge any previous misconception.
Here was my wife, born in New Orleans and bred
in New York, who had never before been out of
America, and my sister, born and bred in Turkey.
The only apparent point in common between the
two was that one had married the brother of the
other. But between the two developed a friendship
and devotion which can be built up only upon good
understanding, irrespective of any legal bonds.

We were leading a very retired life at the time
and the two girls were thrown entirely upon their
own resources. The prevailing political conditions
would have made it disagreeable and at times even
unsafe to go out extensively. The city was full
of British and French colonial troops — mostly
Australians and Senegalese. While outwardly
everything seemed calm and quiet, a sense of im-

HOMECOMING 13

pending tragedy hung in the air. Vague rumors
of riots and risings, reports of atrocities committed
by colonial troops were circulating from mouth to
mouth. Turkish newspapers appeared every morn-
ing heavily censored : nearly one blank column out
of every four. A general and indefinable uneasi-
ness prevailed. Under the circumstances we did
as other Turkish families ; we led a retired life, suffi-
cient unto ourselves, and sought our distractions
in small every-day happenings.

The local colour of the street we lived in, with
its vendors, its Greek children playing on the side-
walks, the nearby open-air fish market, the milk
man making his morning calls at the neighbouring
houses and milking his goats on their doorsteps
afforded us the greatest part of our distraction.
We took advantage of this general lull of things
to get our bearings and to become thoroughly
acclimatized to our surroundings.

Thus we were as happy as could be under the
circumstances and perfectly contented with our
quarters, until the beautiful summer sun started
to shine. Then the local colour became somewhat
more than local: it became stagnant. The noise
of the Greek children in the street began to re-
semble too much that of the tenement district in
New York. The vendors and the milk men became
commonplace. The sun became too warm for the
fish market. The narrow streets surrounding our
house — badly ventilated streets, without proper

14 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

drainage, like most of the streets of Pera — de-
veloped an odor which reminded my wife of the
French quarters of New Orleans, increased to
the Nth. degree! To top it all a case of bubonic
plague broke out in a neighbouring house. Greek
quarters, with the Armenian and Jewish quarters,
are the centers of contagious diseases in Con-
stantinople.

We had already decided that we would elect for
our permanent domicile Stamboul, as far removed
from the Greek, Armenian, Levantine and foreign
elements as possible. Stamboul is exclusively
Turkish and we preferred to live in a Turkish
milieu. We had succeeded in finding a house
which was to be vacated in the fall It was right
opposite the Sublime Porte, on a broad avenue,
bordered with plane trees, typical of Stamboul. It
was in a decent, quiet Turkish surrounding. It
had large, airy rooms and a private Turkish bath,
as is usual with all the old houses in Stamboul.
True, it needed a few repairs, but we arranged
with the landlord to have the floors recovered, to
install electric light and telephone and to add a
shower in the bathroom. The house would be
ready for us in a few months. However, we de-
cided that we could not pass the summer in Pera.
We would go to visit my Father in Prinkipo, an
island at commuting distance in the Sea of Mar-
mora, where my family passed the summer and
where many of my old friends lived. And later

HOMECOMING 15

we would visit my aunts, my mother's sisters, for
a couple of weeks, at Erenkeuy and possibly a
distant cousin of mine who lives on the Bosphorus.
In this way we would make the round of the
summer resorts in the neighbourhood of Constanti-
nople. These long visits are customary in Turkey
and the different members of the family expect
you to make a round such as the one we consid-
ered, especially when you return after a long ab-
sence. Furthermore they were all anxious to
know my wife better and we desired to tie up
solidly the family bonds uniting us to our different
relations before we started our new Turkish life.
By this time my wife understood a little Turkish
and wanted to identify herself as much as possible
with her new relations.

II

SUMMER MONTHS

pRINKIPO reminds me of Bar Harbor. It is
the largest of a group of four islands. It
is covered with pine trees and has large and small
country estates and villas scattered all over its
balmy hills. It has several hotels and two beauti-
ful clubs and many prominent Turkish families
have their summer residences there. In the old
days it was the Turkish resort "par excellence" as
opposed to Therapia on the Bosphorus where all
the embassies and foreign missions have their
summer headquarters. But now the Turkish fami-
lies who can still afford to live there lead a retired
life, depressed as they are by the general political
situation of the country and by their own much de-
pleted finances. Therefore the Levantines, the Ar-
menians, and especially the Greeks have invaded
Prinkipo and try to crowd out the Turks from
this island as they have crowded them out from
Pera. They are in a better material and moral sit-
uation than the Turks for indulging in amuse-
ments. And they have made of Prinkipo — which
used to be in the old days a refined and dis-
tinguished resort, like Bar Harbor — a common
playground for holiday makers.

16

SUMMER MONTHS 17

Casinos, gambling houses and even less reputa-
ble institutions have lately flourished on the balmy
shores of the island. On Saturdays and Sundays
a noisy crowd invades the place, while on every
pay-day it becomes the picnic ground of intoxi-
cated soldiers belonging to the international navies
guarding Constantinople! The day we arrived a
few intoxicated British sailors were making them-
selves generally conspicuous and disagreeable right
on the landing pier, in front of the casinos. They
rushed the Italian officer commanding the police
of the island, who had tried to make them behave
in a manner more in harmony with their supposed
mission of maintaining order and peace in a for-
eign country. Finally the Italian officer had to
draw his revolver and fire a shot in the air. This
happened in broad daylight, in a place crowded
by the mixed Levantine elements now making up
the showy summer colony of Prinkipo. Compo-
sure and calm are not one of the qualities of such
crowds. A panic started, the Levantines running
in every direction and the general stampede was
only quieted when Turkish policemen were called
to the assistance of the Italian carabinieri. The
Turkish police knows how to handle a Levantine
crowd better than the foreign police, but now it
can only interfere if it is especially asked to do
so by the foreign police.

With such conditions prevailing, aggravated by
their own financial difficulties, it is not surprising

18 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

that the Turkish elements have neither the heart
nor the desire to assume again their position as
leaders of the summer colony in Prinkipo. They
prefer to keep quietly to themselves and they make
it a point to avoid as much as possible any contact
with foreigners or with the mixed crowd of Lev-
antines. The beautiful Yacht Club, which was
formerly an essentially Turkish institution really
devoted to yachting, is now more of a gambling
den than a club and only a few unprincipled Lev-
antinized Turks still frequent it. We passed be-
fore it on our way home, and father said smilingly
that it was now "taboo" for us. I can well imagine
how he felt. He had been one of the founders of
the club.

My father and my uncle lived together in a
big white villa midway on the hill. The house had
been originally built by my father as a small cot-
tage during the first years of his marriage and
when my uncle was away on one of his diplomatic
missions. Then gradually as the family increased
and as my uncle came back, additions had been
made to the cottage. It stood now, a large twenty-
five room house in the midst of pine trees, with
shaded verandas running around each floor, com-
manding a gorgeous view over the three neigh-
bouring islands, on the one hand, and the smiling
shores of Anatolia on the other. The background
to this panorama is furnished by the city of Con-
stantinople, dimly discernable at a distance, re-

SUMMER MONTHS 19

fleeting at night its millions of blinking lights in
the blue waters of the Marmora. We settled into
one of the wings of the house originally built for
my elder brother when he married. He was now
away with his family.

To celebrate our arrival my father took us at
the first opportunity to the Prinkipo Club of which
he was still president. This club has remained
more exclusive than the Yacht Club and has there-
fore a larger and better Turkish attendance. It
occupies the beautiful estate which was the Ameri-
can summer Embassy at the time of Mr. Leish-
man. Weekly concerts are given in its gardens
every Friday night — the Turkish Sunday. My
father took us to one of these concerts to make
our "debut" into the Turkish society of Prinkipo.
Groups of Turkish families were wandering to-
gether in the gardens or sitting at tables, enjoying
the beautiful starry night and listening to the
music. The ladies were attired in summer gar-
ments— beautiful Oriental capes of embroidered
white silk, draping their Parisian gowns in flow-
ing loose folds — their hair covered by a net or veil,
but their faces uncovered. The men wore tuxedos
or business suits and could be distinguished from
the foreigners only by their red fezes, a most un-
becoming and unpractical headgear which is, alas !
obligatory for all Turkish men in Constantinople.

This public association of Turkish ladies and
men was an innovation to me. It had gradually

2o SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

come to pass during my ten years absence. Before
my departure Turkish ladies could only be seen by
friends of the family, and then exclusively in the
strict privacy of their homes. They went out by
themselves. They never mingled with men in
public places. They did not even talk to them
if they met casually on the streets. They would
only bow slightly or make a discrete "temenah"
— the graceful Turkish salutation which consists
in lifting the hand towards the lips and to the
forehead. Now, ten years later, Turkish men and
women were talking and sitting together in public
places and in clubs, freely associating with each
other. This was surely a concrete sign of, at
least, social progress.

I renewed many old friendships that night at
the club, and my wife began there many acquain-
tances which developed later most cordially. My
wife was surprised to meet many foreign girls
who had, like herself, married Turks.

When we announced our engagement several
of her friends in America had endeavoured to
dissuade her from marrying a Turk. Surely a
Turk could not make a good husband, East and
West could never mix. And anyhow why should
she be the first foreigner to marry a Turk? She
had of course set aside all these arguments and
had believed me when I told her that many Turks
had married foreigners and lived happily ever
after. I don't think, however, that she ever con-

SUMMER MONTHS 21

ceived that foreign marriages had been so usual.
That evening at the club and during our subse-
quent stay in Constantinople, she found herself in
a most international milieu, although associating
exclusively with Turkish families. She met in
Prinkipo a charming Austrian girl, who had mar-
ried an admiral of the Turkish navy. The mother
of one of my childhood friends is a Russian lady,
while the wife of another is a most attractive
Bavarian girl. Many are the Turks who studied
in France and married French girls. But the first
prize for international marriages goes unquestion-
ably to the family of Reshid Pasha where four
out of seven members married foreign girls —
Italian, English and American. So, after all, my
wife found out that not only she was not the first
foreign girl, but she was not even the first Ameri-
can girl who had married a Turk. And she hast-
ened to write it to her friends in America and to
tell them that from what she could see and by
her own experience East and West could and did
mix. The Moslem religion and the Turkish cus-
toms allow complete latitude as far as marrying
foreign girls is concerned and leave them of course
absolutely free to practise their own religion. As
for the Turks making good husbands, I believe
of course that this is entirely dependent on the
individual and not on the race. There are good
and bad husbands among the Turks, just as there
are good and bad husbands among other nations.

22 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Our stay in Prinkipo turned out to be one of
the most pleasant summer vacations I ever had.
I would go to town to attend business regularly,
but would take long week-ends off; that is, I would
do as most business men do in summer and would
stay home Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. We
would then go bathing in the mornings, and play
tennis or go out sailing in the afternoons. The
Sea of Marmora is ideal for yachting, and numer-
ous are the sailing yachts which use Prinkipo as
their port. Of course the fact that we usually
used Turkish yachts would somewhat hamper our
movements, as boats flying the Turkish flags were
not allowed to go anywhere near the Anatolian
shores, the Inter- Allied authorities enforcing at
that time a strict blockade of the Nationalists.

Often there would be tea-parties or informal
after-dinner gatherings in the Turkish homes.
And while these were small, unpretentious af-
fairs— the Turks cannot afford to entertain elab-
orately on account of their precarious means —
they were a most pleasant manner of passing away
the time. There was always someone interesting
at these gatherings. A man or a woman of
prominence who would give to us a new point
of view or some insight into the general sit-
uation. Once an Egyptian princess told us of the
difference in the progress accomplished by the
Turks and by their cousins of Egypt in the last
years. How, despite the fact that the Turks had

SUMMER MONTHS 23

been hampered by political circumstances while
the Egyptians had had the supposed benefit of
British help, Turkish women now enjoyed a much
larger political and social freedom than Egyptian
women, and public education had spread more gen-
erally in Turkey than in Egypt. Another time
the director of the Turkish Naval Academy in
Halki told us how he had taken advantage of
the temporarily complete independence of Turkey
during the war to make of his school one of the
most progressive and up-to-date naval academies
in the world — how since the armistice he was meet-
ing seemingly insurmountable difficulties in pro-
tecting his school from the process of disintegra-
tion systematically applied by the Allies to every-
thing Turkish in Constantinople. Another time
Zia Pasha, former Turkish Ambassador in Wash-
ington, told us how for years Sultan Abdul Hamid
succeeded in keeping his Empire intact by playing
the greedy ambitions of one western nation against
that of the other. Once again Reshid Pasha, the
Turkish diplomat who negotiated all the peace
treaties made by Turkey in recent years — up to
but excluding the Treaty of Sevres — told us of
his experiences at the London Peace Conference
following the Balkan War. His position was most
delicate as he was representing a nation which
had been defeated on the battlefield and had to
contend also with the inherent enmity that the
ever-grasping imperialistic western powers have

34 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

always felt in regard to Turkey. His was a
pitched diplomatic battle against the Greek Veniz-
elos. Reshid Pasha was too modest to add what
everybody knows: that he came out the victor,
having turned the tables on Venizelos to such a
degree that the Greek statesman came away from
London with his reputation as a diplomat greatly
imperilled.

Unfortunately, subsequent events had put back
Venizelos to the fore, and after numerous shifts of
policy the Greeks had succeeded before our ar-
rival in having the great powers present to Turkey
the terms of the Treaty of Sevres. Naturally,
past, present and future politics were the subject
of all conversations. Feeling was running high in
Turkish circles. Every one was incensed both
against the Allied powers and against the Turkish
Government of the moment. The Grand Vezir,
or Prime Minister, was being severely criticised
and accused of trampling on the dignity of the
nation by accepting the Treaty of Sevres. The
Nationalist movement had already started and
while the Turks remained stoically calm in Con-
stantinople for fear of reprisals by the Inter-Allied
fleets upon the innocent population of the city, the
tide of despair was rising in Anatolia. The Na-
tionalist movement was as yet not thoroughly or-
ganized. But the set purpose of preventing the
application of the terms of the treaty was already
noticeable in the activities of the Turkish National-

SUMMER MONTHS 25

ist bands who had sworn to die rather than to lose
their independence. They have, since then, stuck
most efficiently to their patriotic aim.

During those critical days following the pub-
lication of the terms of the Treaty of Sevres, and
during the first weeks of the conception of the
Turkish Nationalist movement, many a time have
we watched from Prinkipo the smoke of firearms
indicating encounters between Turkish National-
ist bands and British Colonial troops, on the hills
dominating the nearby shores of Anatolia. Once
we witnessed a big forest fire engineered for the
purpose of destroying the hiding-places where the
Nationalist volunteers would take refuge after
their successful raids against the armies of occu-
pation. These Anatolian hills lie to this day, their
once smilingly green slopes bare — a silent exam-
ple of the work of destruction undertaken in the
name of civilization by the western powers who
champion the rights of certain small nations by
destroying the properties of others. These Ana-
tolian hills are at this day, desolate and sad — but
a proud monument commemorating the unsuccess-
ful attempt of the so-called civilized governments
to pass a death sentence upon a small nation whose
will to live independently could not be conquered
either by fire or by blood. The prologue of the
greatest crime perpetrated in history since the par-
tition of Poland was thus gradually unfolding it-
self almost under our very eyes, while the Turkish

26 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

circles of Prinkipo and Constantinople — prisoners
in their own capital — had to watch, aloof. It was
an edifying show of real Oriental restraint to see
all these people stand stoically and without a mur-
mur so that their brethren in Anatolia might have
time to organize. In the face of the worst adver-
sities and while their hearts were bleeding, they
furnished to Anatolia the breathing-spell it re-
quired. To the cry of "chase the Turk out of
Europe" shouted in their very face, the Turks of
Constantinople were opposing a passive and dig-
nified resistance. A friend of mine summarized
one day most clearly the motive underlying their
passive resistance. We were on the Prinkipo boat
going to Constantinople — the boat which in the
old days was full of Turkish dignitaries going
to their offices. Now only a few Turkish business
men were distinguishable in the crowd. A few
foreign officers were lounging comfortably on
benches "reserved for Inter-Allied officers" — large
enough to accommodate twenty people — while
crowds of men and women were standing all
around for lack of place to sit. The boat was
filled with noisy Levantines, Armenians and
Greeks, eating dates and pistachio nuts, throwing
the seeds and the shells on the deck, making of the
floor a place not fit for animals, and rendering
themselves generally obnoxious. My friend pointed
to them and said: "These are the people who
want to take Constantinople away from us in the

SUMMER MONTHS 2?

name of civilization! But we have to overlook
their impudence, we have to close our eyes on
their misbehaviour, we have to stand and bear
it all. What else can we do? If we weaken
and join "en masse" the Nationalists in Anatolia,
we would leave in Constantinople a majority of
these people and the Western Powers would take
advantage of this majority to detach the city com-
pletely from the rest of Turkey. If we can't
control our patience, and rise against the foreign-
ers and the usurpers in our own city, the Western
Powers will interfere and their battleships will
destroy our homes. But if we stand pat and ig-
nore them they can not do us any harm. Our duty
is to preserve our city for Turkey. And we can
only do it by remaining here and by opposing to
those who plot against us a passive and silent
resistance."

In this atmosphere of suspense the last days of
our stay in Prinkipo drew near. Our house in
Stamboul would be ready now in about a month.
I had promised my wife to take her to Erenkeuy
and to the Bosphorus. My father wanted us to
discharge our obligations towards the rest of the
family. And besides he was soon going back to
town himself. The season of Prinkipo was at its
end. Constantinople and its surrounding are at
their best in the early fall, but Prinkipo gets too
cold. The bathing season was finished, the yacht-
ing season was at its end. The hotels were clos-

28 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

ing. One by one the villas were shutting their
hospitable doors. The summer colony was dis-
banding. Prinkipo was preparing for its annual
winter sleep.
We packed our bags and went to visit my aunts.

Ill

ERENKEUY

ClNCE our arrival at Constantinople my wife
had been complaining that I had not shown
her a "harem." So she was very anxious to visit
my aunts, in Erenkeuy, when I told her that it
was there that she could see one, at least in the
Turkish sense of the word. Harem in Turkish
means nothing less, but nothing more, than the
special house or the special section of a house re-
served to the ladies of the family. In the old days
when the ladies did not associate with men they
used to live in the main house or in a part of
the house, generally the best, where they had their
own sitting-rooms, dining-rooms, boudoirs, etc.,
distinct from the sitting-room, dining-room or den
of the men of the family. When I speak of "ladies"
and "men" in the plural it is well to remember it
was and still is the custom in Turkey for all the
members of the same family to live together under
the same roof. The Turkish family is a sort of a
clan. So while there are always many ladies in
a family, foreigners must not imagine that there
are many "wives." This is a true narrative of
Turkey and the Turks as they really are, so I

29

3o SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

have to speak the truth even at the risk of shat-
tering many legends. I am bound therefore not to
fall in line with the traditions established by other
writers who never fail to refer to a servant in a
Turkish household as being a "slave/' and to the
ladies of a Turkish family as being "wives." The
truth is that slavery was not generally practised in
Turkey even before the Civil War in America, and
the "wives" referred to by most of the foreign
writers either exist only in their imagination or
else are the sisters, sisters-in-law, daughters or
cousins of the head of the family which foreign
writers innocently or purposely represent as his
wives. Of course there might be several wives in
the same household — but not the wives of the same
man. For instance, when we were visiting my
father in Prinkipo, there were four "wives" living
together : my father's, my uncle's, my cousin's and
my own wife. Anyhow I warned my wife that she
would see in Erenkeuy a "harem" in the Turkish
sense of the word and not the kind of private
cabaret which exists only in the fertile imagination
of scenario writers, and in the ludicrous pages of
sensational newspapers or dime novels.

Erenkeuy is a little village at about half an hour
ride from Constantinople and on the Asiatic side.
The shores of Anatolia are here covered with
country estates uniting small villages all the way
from Scutari to Maltepe — a distance of about fif-
teen miles. And all except Cadikeuy and Moda

ERENKEUY 31

are peopled with Turks. The Turks living here
are mostly conservatives. They are not old fash-
ioned and narrow but they have kept to the Turk-
ish ways of living more accurately than the Turks
living in other sections or suburbs of Constanti-
nople. It really cannot be explained but there is
here an indefinable something that makes you feel
that you are in Turkey more than you do in any
other suburb of Constantinople. Perhaps it is only
due to the fact that you are on the hospitable soil
of Anatolia.

Suburban trains running on the famous Bagdad
railroad take you to Erenkeuy. I again had a jolt
on these trains. In the old days the company be-
longed to the Germans and was run by the Ger-
mans. But it endeavoured not to arouse the sus-
ceptibility of the Turks by flaunting in their faces
that it was a foreign company. All the employees
on the train wore the fez, the national Turkish
headgear, and the greatest majority of them were
Turks. Now the Allies have replaced the Ger-
mans and have taken over the railroad as part of
Germany's war indemnity towards them. The re-
sult is that their systematic campaign of humiliat-
ing the Turks has been practised even here. The
new Allied administration employs mostly Greeks
and Armenians — and all the employees of the com-
pany now wear caps. Really the difference between
caps or fezzes is only one of form, but it has a
psychological effect. For instance, even in my

32 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

case, although I dislike the fez as a most impracti-
cable and unbecoming headgear, and although I
have worn hats the greater part of my life I could
not help resenting the change: it rubbed me the
wrong way. It made me most vividly feel as if we
were not the masters in our own homes — at least
temporarily in Constantinople and its environs.

We arrived in Erenkeuy in the afternoon on
one of those beautifully clear days which make of
the fall almost the most pleasant season of Con-
stantinople. The air was mildly heated by an
autumnal sun shining in a marvellously blue sky.
The leaves of the plane trees surrounding the
station had turned golden red and had become
scarce on the branches. Even now some were vol-
planing to the earth on the wings of a gentle
fall breeze. The square in front of the station,
with its clean little shops — each a diminutive ba-
zaar of its own — opened itself smilingly to us as
we emerged from the train with our baggage.
In the background we could see the little mosque
where villagers were entering for their afternoon
prayer.

We decided to walk to my aunt's house, which
is not far from the station. Besides, it wTas prayer-
time and we should avoid arriving while the whole
household was at prayer. We heaped our luggage
in a carriage — a typically Asiatic conveyance with
bright coloured curtains hanging from a wooden
canopy and with seats char-a-banc fashion. It

ERENKEUY 33

disappeared in a cloud of dust to the gallop of its
sturdy little Anatolian horse. My wife was de-
lighted, this was at last Turkey somewhat as she
had imagined it to be. But what would happen
to our bags if the coachman was not honest? Had
I a receipt? Didn't the coachman give me a
check? At least I had taken the number of the
carriage, hadn't I? I reassured my wife: the
coachman was not a Greek — he was not even a
taxicab driver of one of the "civilized" western
metropolises. He was a plain Turk, just an Ana-
tolian peasant, and our luggage was as safe in
his keeping as it would be in the strong box of a
bank.

We leisurely followed the carriage through a
little country road bordered by garden walls on
both sides. High stone walls, white washed, pro-
tected the privacy of the gardens from the glances
of passers-by. A big gate here, a half-opened
door there would give us a glimpse of houses,
small or large, surrounded with trees — elm trees,
plane trees, fig trees, cedars and cypresses — whose
dark branches enshrouded the houses in a mystery
of falling leaves. The only house of which we
could get a full view from the road was a little
old house, with a slanting brick roof, an en-
closed balcony hanging high in the air and sup-
ported by arched pillars, a cobbled courtyard
where a few hens were picking their feed while
a big brown dog, a relic of the old street dogs, was

34 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

peacefully sleeping. It was at the corner of a
street, its gate wide opened, and there was only
one big old tree in the garden. The others must
have died of old age, and the owner must have
been too poor to replace them.

The road we followed was dusty and almost de-
serted, with deep furrows left by chariots, carts
and carriages since the beginning of time. In
winter the rain and the snow turned the soft, pink-
ish Anatolian soil into a greasy mud. And every
winter, ever since the days of the Janissaries,
chariots, carts and carriages had passed on these
roads, furrowing always deeper. One felt as if the
clock of time had stopped here years ago. An
acute sense of the living past permeated every-
thing.

On our way my wife asked me to tell her some-
thing of my aunt's family. Our surroundings re-
minded me of old stories and I told her the story
as told to us by my grandmother when we were
tiny little boys. I used to love it as it opened be-
fore my mind vast visions of heroic ages. "Cen-
turies ago," I told my wife, "there lived a young
man, almost a boy, in the faraway mountains of
Anatolia, bordering the snow-covered peaks of the
Caucasus. He was tall and handsome but did not
marry because he had to support his old father
and mother who were so old and so poor that
they could only sit on their divans all day and
pray the Almighty to call them back to him so that

ERENKEUY 35

their boy might be left free of worries and respon-
sibilities. But they were good parents and the
boy was a good son. Therefore, the Almighty
heard their prayer and freed their son of all wor-
ries, but not in the way the old people had prayed
for. It so happened that the "Frank" kings of
Hungary, Servia and Bulgaria declared war on
our powerful Sultan and invaded his domains.
To repulse the invaders our Sultan called all his
brave subjects under arms. They flocked from
all over to the standard of their emperor. The
young boy from the Anatolian mountains near the
Caucasus heard his sovereign's call and answered
it immediately. But he was so far away that when
he came to Adrianople, which was at that time
the capital of the Sultan, he found that the armies
had left many days before to meet the detested
foes. He galloped post haste through the Balkans,
days and nights without rest until he finally
reached the plains of Kossovo. But, alas, what
a sight met his gaze when he arrived there! The
armies of the allied "Frank" kings had captured
the standard of the Sultan, and the Turkish
armies were in rout. Tooroondj — that was the
name of our young hero — decided to recapture
the standard of the Sultan and in the depths of
the night when the "Frank" armies were asleep,
he climbed the walls of their citadel, killed the
sentry on watch, took the flag and returned to the
Turkish camp. Next morning at dawn the Turk-

$6 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

ish soldiers, awakening and seeing the standard
of the Sultan waving again on the imperial tent,
were filled with renewed courage. The Sultan
assembled them all and before all the Turkish
armies he called Tooroondj to him. He gave the
imperial flag to our hero and ordered him to
lead a final charge against the enemies. Tooroondj
was so brave that he planted victoriously the stand-
ard of his emperor on the citadel of the enemies.
Thus, first through his bravery in recovering sin-
gle-handed the standard, and second through the
valour he showed in leading the charge Tooroondj
won for the empire the first battle of Kossovo.
In recognition of his services the Sultan made
him Bey of his natal province. After the war
Tooroondj returned to his principality and to his
old father and mother, and took to himself a wife.
His descendants have ruled there until feudality
became gradually extinct. Then the main branch
came to Constantinople where it has ever since
served the empire in all branches of the govern-
ment services. Now the last descendants of the
main branch are here, in Erenkeuy, and we are en-
tering through the gate of their house."

A wrought-iron garden gate opened on a road
bordered with trees. Right near the gate and on
each side of the road were two little houses of
seven or eight rooms each. These used to be the
"Selamlik," or quarters where my uncle received
his men friends in the old days, entertained them

ERENKEUY 37

or talked state matters with them. When business
required it, or when the friends desired, they
would stay a few days as his guests. The little
houses were specially designed for this purpose,
each of them having even its own kitchen. The
service was made by a retinue of men servants
alone and in the old days only men were to be
seen in and around these two little houses, as
around all "Selamliks." They were a sort of pri-
vate club at the time that Turkish ladies were
not allowed to associate with the social or business
activities of their men. But now that the barkers
curtailing the activities of women have been torn
down the two little houses were rented to two
families. Some of the tenants were sitting on the
verandas and looked at us with the curiosity that
all people living in a quiet country place feel
towards strangers.

We followed the road winding its way through
old trees and shrubs and soon reached an inner
wall covered with vines, separating the gardens
of the "Harem" from those of the "Selamlik." The
road skirted this inner wall and took us to the back
of the main house, or "harem" proper which in
the old days was consecrated to the living quarters
of the ladies and the private quarters of the family.
It is a big building with its main entrance opening
on the outer court, but with its fagade turned
toward the gardens of the harem, so that there is
no communication with the old Selamlik other

38 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

than this entrance. The door was ajar and opened
as soon as we set foot on its steps.

My aunt, with her two sisters, their children
and the servants had formed a semi-circle inside
the entrance hall and were awaiting us, outwardly
calm but with their eyes shining with restrained
excitement. Turkish etiquette requires composure
no matter how excited one is. Every one has to
wait his turn and we greeted each other accord-
ingly, starting by the eldest and going down the
line according to age — kissing the hands of those
older than us and having our hands kissed by those
younger than us. This hand-kissing is a sign of
respect which remains supreme in Turkey ; no mat-
ter what their respective social position, when two
Turks greet each other the younger one always at
least makes a motion as if to kiss the hand of his
elder. It is a quaint, graceful acknowledgment of
the respect and allegiance due to old age.

With all the formality attached to it the recep-
tion extended by my aunts at our arrival was vi-
brating with sincerity and emotion. The dear,
dear ladies were patting us and embracing us,
their eyes full of tears, with little sighs of delight
and whispered prayers of thanksgiving to the Al-
mighty to have thus permitted our reunion under
their roof. They took us to the sitting-room where
we all sat in a circle, and a general conversation,
in which my wife's Turkish had to be helped by
my cousin or by myself, started around. My

ERENKEUY 39

aunts do not speak English but this handicap of
language did not prevent the establishment of
ties of love and devotion between them and my
wife. These bonds in fact developed in the course
of time to such a degree that to-day they are as
strong as the ties of blood uniting my aunts to
me. They took to my wife immediately and
wanted to know how she liked Constantinople.
Wasn't she missing her country and her sisters?
But now she had a new set of sisters and brothers.
Their own children would surround her with love
and try to make her feel less the absence of her
sisters in America. And they themselves were
my wife's aunts. She had become one with me
by her marriage. And how would we enjoy stay-
ing with them in Erenkeuy? The life here was
;very quiet, a great change for people coming from
America.

A few minutes later my uncle came to join the
family circle. We all got up respectfully and
stood until he sat in his favourite easy-chair.
He greeted us with warm words of welcome, in
his quiet, unostentatious way. Every one was
conscious that the head of the family was now
with us, although there was no strain whatsoever.
Just a note of deference, that was all. Coffee was
served. Then a maid brought us jam on a silver
platter and each one took a spoonful, drinking
some water immediately after. We exchanged
news about the different members of the family

40 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

and about our friends, talked of the past and of
our future plans. At tea time we adjourned to
the dining-room and had our tea Turkish fashion:
weak, with lemon and plenty of sugar. No toast
is served but instead bread and that wonderful
white cheese which melts in the mouth. They
explained to us that during the war they drank
the boiled extract of roasted oats instead of tea
or coffee.

After the ice was completely broken I had to
call on my uncle and my aunts to convince my
wife that we were really in a "harem." I must
say that they were very much amused. Of course
this was a harem and no man except the members
of the family had ever passed its threshold in the
days gone by. But that did not mean that my
uncle had ever had another wife besides my aunt.
They always had lived together ever since the
divorce of my second aunt, and my youngest aunt
had also lived here always with her husband. They
suggested showing my wife the gardens of the
harem and we all wandered out together.

What a great difference ten or twelve years had
made in these gardens! The last time I had seen
them — before my departure for America — their
alleys were carpeted with clean small pebbles, their
trees were trimmed, their well-kept flower beds
and orchards were a pleasure to the eyes, while
the hot-house at the corner was filled with rare
tropical plants and fruit-trees. The whisper of

ERENKEUY 41

running water flew continuously from many foun-
tains and in a small artificial lake a miniature
rowboat of polished mahogany lolled lazily in the
shade of branches hanging from the shores. It
was a thriving garden, speaking of ease and pros-
perity. But now! It looked as if it had been
asleep since the last few years. Gone are the
pebbles in the alleys. Broken are the window-
panes of the deserted hot-house with its shelves
covered with dust and its cracked vases with dried
stumps which were once the trunks of tropical
plants. Dead leaves rustle under your feet and
hush your steps. The trees have grown in a maze
of unruly branches. The rose beds of yesteryear
have turned wild and now prickly bushes bearing
anemic flowers stoop to the ground, fighting for
supremacy in the flower garden. Shrubs of lilac,
jasmine and honeysuckles — which blossom here in
the early fall as well as in spring — faintly scent
the air with their reminiscent perfume of past
glory. The fountains are silent and the little lake
is dry — while the sad nakedness of its gray cement
marks the resting-place for the broken remains of
what used to be the shining little mahogany row-
boat. The beautiful garden is now the ghost of
what it used to be. Its soul is alive — perhaps
more so than before — but pensive, sad, desolate.
The greedy monster of war must have reached
as far as this peaceful estate in Erenkeuy, suck-
ing its vitality in its all-devastating tentacles.

42 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

How did it ever come about? My uncle and
my aunt must have had some reverses unknown to
me, they would not carelessly let their property
deteriorate in this way if they could have helped
it. The thought worried me and I turned to my
aunt for an explanation. With her diminutive slip-
pers crushing the dead leaves covering the ground,
her jet black hair covered with a delicately em-
broidered white veil, my aunt was slowly walking
on my right through the desolate alleys. Her hus-
band was next to her while my wife, with my
cousins and my other aunts walked ahead in the
distance, fading gradually in the subtle shadows of
the desolate garden. My aunt explained. Her
voice was subdued but she was dispassionate, firm
and resigned.

"We have tried to be too careful, my son," she
said, "and God has taught us a lesson. Long be-
fore the war we had deposited all our holdings
with a British bank in London. We believed it
would be safer there than in any other place and
we lived contented on the income it brought us.
It was nothing much but it represented with this
place all our savings and it was enough to allow
us to live happily and to take good care of our
estate. The war came suddenly and our deposits
in the bank were seized by England. It was fair,
all the nations did the same and confiscated enemy
properties within their reach. So we bowed to
the inevitable and passed the long years of war

ERENKEUY 43

as best we could. Your uncle took sick. He is
just getting over an ailment which forced him all
this time to live in retirement. Nothing was com-
ing in. The family is large, the children had to
be educated. We dismissed all hired servants and
sold our family jewels. At last the armistice came
and we hoped to get back, what was ours. But
years have passed and years are passing. Eng-
land has returned the properties of Armenians,
Greeks and Jews who are, like ourselves, Turkish
citizens, on the grounds that they were pro-Allies
but she still refuses to give back the private prop-
erty of the Turks. No exception is made for those
who, like ourselves, were not in politics during the
war and even for those who, like your uncle, tried
to dissuade the Government from entering the war.
Our only crime seems to be that we did not betray
our country during the war, that we could not be
pro-Ally after our country had entered the war!
Well, what can we do? We still must be grateful
to God that we have a roof over our heads. Thou-
sands of others are much worse off. We can't
take care of this property, but we have mortgaged
it and we live as best we can. God has helped
us in the past, God will help us in the future if
we realize that no matter how careful we are we
can't foresee the future, we cannot avoid the de-
crees of Destiny." I look in silence at my aunt,
there is no bitterness in her, but her finely chiseled
face is pensive. She is lost in retrospective

44 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

thoughts. She is visualizing her garden as it used
to be, while her night-dark eyes glance, unseeing,
over her present surroundings. She walks slowly,
her slender body wrapped in the loose, flowing
folds of an Arabian "Meshlah" of silk, glittering
with silver threads, which she had thrown over her
shoulders when she came out in the garden. She
looks typically Turkish. Her slightly aquiline
nose gives a refined expression to her proud, clean-
cut features. She is small and thin, but her dig-
nified carriage gives the impression of power and
self-confidence.

The Pasha, walks next to her, slightly bent
by his recent illness. However he is well on
his way to complete recovery; his sprightly step,
his rosy cheeks, his keen bright eyes denote vigor
and growing strength. He caresses his small gray
beard and smiles. He passes his hand in his wife's
arm and cheerfully says: "Hanoum, we should
not complain, we are better off now than we ever
were, if our trials have made us wiser. We know
better the real value of things than we did before.
The Almighty has made me recover my health,
we are all alive and well. I am not so old yet, I
can work. I will work, and you will again help me
as you did in the past. We will together rebuild
our home. It is for us to deserve the help of God.
We must work for His mercy.,,

In the silence that followed new hopes were born
in me. The undaunted spirit of the Pasha faith-

ERENKEUY 45

fully reflects the feeling in the Turkey and the
Turks of to-day. This is the spirit that has brought
them through all their past trials, this is the spirit
that has been taken for fatalism, but which is
nothing else than an indomitable blend of resig-
nation, confidence in one's self and confidence in
the justice of God. It will save Turkey and the
Turks as it has saved them in the past. They
never have been despondent and they never will
give up. Calmly, without any show, without any
complaint they always step back into their normal
lives, confident that the future will justify their
immovable trust in the justice of God.

We slowly return home in the silent twilight of
the evening. It is almost dinner time. The old
fashioned Turkish families dine always soon after
sunset, no matter the season. Here in Erenkeuy
the food is supplied by a community kitchen to
which most of the neighbours are subscribers. It
is distributed twice a day, so the food is always
freshly cooked, clean and wholesome. It is less
costly and less worrisome than to keep one's
own kitchen. And my surprise is great to find
such an efficient modern innovation in a little vil-
lage at the outskirts of Anatolia.

After dinner we sit around and talk some more.
My cousin plays and sings for us some old Turkish
songs. Then we all retire, for the night, the
younger ones again kissing the hands of their
elders. When we are alone in our room, my wife

46 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

tells me how much she has liked my aunts. It
must be mutual because there is a knock on our
door and my aunt enters. She comes to give my
wife a pair of small diamond earrings as a token
of welcome under her roof. My aunt insists on
her taking them. They have no value of their
own she says, but they have been in the family for
a very long time — my mother wore them when
she was a child.

IV

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN

O UR stay in Erenkeuy which had started under
such pleasant auspices continued in perfect
harmony and developed additional ties between my
wife and her new Turkish relations. A most cor-
dial friendship grew between her and my cousin,
the daughter of my second aunt. She had been
educated at the American College for Girls of Con-
stantinople and her education was therefore a most
happy blend of the Orient and the Occident. It
opened an additional ground of common under-
standing between the two girls who became rapidly
inseparable friends. The following winter when
we were all in the city my cousin, my sister and
my wife formed a constant trio which broke up
only when my sister left Constantinople for ex-
tensive travel in Western Europe.

There was another Turkish girl in Erenkeuy
who came often to call. She was a school
mate of my cousin and not only spoke perfect
English but wrote it perfectly too. Her ambition
was to make English-speaking people familiar with
Turkish literature. This Turkish girl is very ac-
tive in the American colony of Constantinople.

47

48 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

She was then hoping to induce the American Re-
lief Association to engage in relief work for the
needy Turks also. But I am afraid that she found
this task somewhat difficult. I have heard it said
that while it is comparatively easy to obtain finan-
cial support for Armenians and Greeks, it is more
difficult to obtain funds for the Turks. A well-
managed campaign following an energetic propa-
ganda by which Turks are represented as commit-
ting wholesale massacres and atrocities against
the Christian elements in the Near East is always
sure to bring substantial financial assistance for
Armenians and Greeks and incidentally to secure
a longer lease of life to the jobs of all those em-
ployed in Relief or Missionary work in Turkey.
But how could money be raised for the Turks?
To create public sympathy for them in America
would necessitate the destruction of all the fables
so elaborately created by years of anti-Turkish
propaganda. It is easier to follow the lines of
least resistance, to follow the beaten road by
spreading news of massacres and atrocities when-
ever funds are needed. The only requirement in
this case is to make a propaganda whose virulence
is in direct proportion to the reluctance of the pub-
lic in subscribing for new funds. Whenever the
public seems to have lost interest or seems to be
acquiring a more accurate knowledge of the
Greeks and Armenians — whenever either of these
conditions coincide with the need of more funds — a

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 49

spectacular report on new Turkish atrocities is
staged and the flow of money is stimulated. The
tide runs Eastward, but there it is carefully canal-
ized into Greek and Armenian channels alone. The
money has been collected for them and must be
distributed exclusively to them. What difference
does it make if hundreds of thousands of Turks,
old men, women and children rendered homeless
by the Greek invasion or by the repeated Armenian
revolutions, are dying from lack of clothes, lack of
shelter, lack of food. The Turks are human be-
ings too, that is true, but they call God "Allah."
And it does not sound the same!

The Turks are thrown exclusively on their own
meagre resources for relieving their own refu-
gees, for helping their needy. I must say that
despite their extremely restricted means they
achieve this difficult task with unexpected effi-
ciency. The work of relief is almost exclusively
in the hands of committees of Turkish women who
work with untiring abnegation. The president of
one of these committees, Madame Memdouh Bey,
a cousin of my aunts', was quite a frequent visi-
tor at Erenkeuy and told us of how they are or-
ganized and how they work. These committees
are built upon such efficient business lines that I
feel I should describe them to some extent so as to
give an idea of the administrative and organizing
capacities of modern Turkish women. Each re-
lief association specializes in a given activity. One

50 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

takes care of refugees, another of the needy or-
phans, a third one of the Red Crescent — which is
the Turkish Red Cross — and so forth. Each As-
sociation is divided into Committees, every one of
which is assigned to one district and is an auton-
omous unit with a president and also a secretary
managing its executive work. These committees
are divided into sub-committees: one in charge of
collections, one responsible for distributions and
one to organize and conduct productive work.
The ladies in charge of collecting continuously
canvass their districts and classify all donations —
be they money or wearing apparel. They organize
tag days, garden parties, concerts, etc., to secure
any additional supplies and funds possible.

My wife participated in several of these tag
days but on such occasions she had to don the
"charshaf" so as not to be conspicuously the only
foreigner among the Turkish ladies. On these
days the streets of Stamboul are full of groups of
Turkish ladies, young girls and children, a red rib-
bon pinned on their breasts with the name of the
Association they are collecting for written on it,
smilingly offering their tags to the public. They
bother the foreigners very little and solicit charity
only from the Turks. The ladies who have shoul-
dered the responsibility of distributing the charity
thus collected canvass thoroughly their respective
district, to find the refugees or the needy who de-
serve the most urgent attention, "determine system-

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 51

atically their needs and supply them with the help
they require. Any funds that remain available
to the Committee after such distribution are then
turned over to the sub-committee in charge of or-
ganizing and conducting productive work. Here
all needy women and girls who can earn their liv-
ing are brought together and given work in dress-
making or embroidery establishments which are
under the direct management of the ladies of this
sub-co*mmittee. The men are similarly given work
in furniture making or carpentry establishments.
Men, women and children thus employed are of
course paid for their work, their products are sold
and the profits realized on them are again placed
at the disposal of the Committee.

Turkish ladies also run orphan asylums . where
little boys and little girls who have lost both father
and mother in the turmoil of the different wars or
in the forced evacuation of their homesteads before
the Greek or Armenian irredentists, are taken care
of and educated. When the little girls have reached
the age of fifteen they are given into families where
they work — under the continuous supervision of
the Committee for orphans. The ladies of this com-
mittee keep a vigilant and motherly watch over
the welfare of these girls. Once a month the
girls are subjected to a medical examination to
determine if their health is properly taken care of.
Once a month some lady of the Committee makes
an unexpected call in every house where any of

5* SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

these orphan girls are working to ascertain how
they are treated, what work they are doing, and
if they are satisfied with their employers. She has
also the privilege — which she often takes advan-
tage of — using her savings as a dowry to start
married life.

Needless to say that the ladies engaged in this
relief work are all volunteers. They belong mostly
to the upper classes and devote all their time and
energy to the charities they have undertaken. We
have seen them at work time and again and their
devotion and abnegation is beyond praise. I
think that the most active of these ladies — at least
those who are most in the public eye because of
the executive positions they hold in the Commit-
tees— are Madame Memdouh Bey, Madame Ismail
Djenani Bey, Madame Edhem Bey and Madame
Houloussi Bey. But there are hundreds and
thousands of others whose work, while not as
prominent, is none the less efficient, silent little
women with hearts of gold devoting their life to
some work of charity and mercy.

In the shadows of the old garden at Erenkeuy,
my aunts were incessantly engaged in bringing
their contribution to this general work of relief.
They would sit in, a circle under some big trees
and be busy one day sewing garments for refugees,
another day packing medicines for the Red Cres-
cent, or knitting socks, sweaters or gloves for the
soldiers of the Nationalist Armies. They would

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 53

remain at work for hours at a time, day in and
day out, in their quiet, unostentatious ways mak-
ing a most touching picture: a group incessantly
engaged in humanitarian work — the elder aunt,
poised and refined, directing the work of all and
participating in it with all her untiring activity —
the second aunt, emaciated by years of domestic
troubles caused by the kaleidoscopic political
changes and wars of Turkey, but still cheerful and
hopeful — the youngest aunt, as sweet as a Ma-
donna and as resigned as one — cutting, sewing or
packing with the help of their children.

I confess that I was not a little surprised by this
continuous activity in which all Turkish women,
without distinction of class, took a feverish part.
It is true that even before I left Constantinople
women were already much more emancipated than
they generally were given credit for being by for-
eigners— it is true that I was hoping to find them
at my return well on the road to full emancipa-
tion. But frankly I was not prepared for the long
stride they had made during these few years. I
was especially not prepared to see them so com-
petent in public organization and so businesslike
in the conduct of actual productive work. I ex-
pected to find them rather inefficient in the new
fields opened to them for the first time after so
many generations of seclusion.

I said this frankly to my aunt, one Friday after-
noon, on the eve of our departure from Erenkeuy.

54 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

We were enjoying the ever attractive sunset from
the terraces of a public garden on the shores of
the Sea of Marmora. At a distance and blurred
by the purple haze of the horizon, Prinkipo and
the other islands were reflecting their dark green
hills in the opalescent sea where glimmered the
dancing lights of an orange-coloured sun. Gentle
waves were breaking in cadence over the rocks
at our feet. Around us other Turkish families
were sitting at wooden tables in small groups. We
had just finished sipping our coffees. The gen-
eral relaxation preceding all oriental sunsets was
gradually creeping over nature together with the
lavendar shadows of the coming twilight. My
aunts had been working hard that day, and I told
them how much I admired them and all their
Turkish sisters for their indefatigable activities,
for their efficiency in works they had not par-
ticipated in for generations.

My aunt looked at me. Then she laughed in
her musical and contagious manner: "You talk
like a foreigner, my son," she said. "Whenever
foreigners talk of the new emancipation of Turkish
women, they express their surprise at our effici-
ency.' '

I explained to my aunt what I meant — I said:
"Our women have been kept for so many genera-
tions out of all activities, their attention has been
consecrated for so many centuries exclusively on
their homes and families and they have so recently

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 55

acquired their freedom, that I can not help being
surprised to find them turning their freedom into
really productive channels and to see how capable
they are in their new pursuits."

"Why should we be incapable or inefficient ?"
asked my aunt, "and why should the seclusion of
Turkish women in past generations influence or
interfere with the organizing, administrative or
productive capacities of the Turkish women of
this generation? After all women do not belong
to a different race than men, we are the daughters
of men and inherit their qualities — or their faults
— their capacities or their inefficiency, just as much
as their sons do. This present generation, with-
out distinction of sex, has inherited the accumu-
lated qualities or faults of all past generations. It
is not the sex which makes or mars the individual,
which makes or mars his or her talents. Indivi-
dual talents, qualities or faults are of course in-
herited to a great degree, but they don't descend
exclusively from women to women and from men
to men. Furthermore they are especially en-
hanced by the education, upbringing and training
of the individual. And I consider that the Turkish
women of this generation have had individually a
better opportunity than their brothers — or even
than their western sisters — to prepare, educate and
train themselves for the work they are now doing.
The Turkish men of this generation have had to
struggle for life as soon as they were out of boy-

56 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

hood and, confronted by the necessity of earning
their immediate living, they did not have the op-
portunity of preparing themselves for the lines
of activity best suited to their individual talents —
or else and still worse, they have been drafted into
the armies and have fought consecutively for the
last fifteen years. Thousands have perished in
these wars, thousands and thousands have been
maimed or otherwise incapacitated for life. As
for western women, those of the higher classes —
therefore those who have received a better educa-
tion— are caught in a whirlwind of social amuse-
ment as soon as they are little more than children
and the greatest majority keep throughout their
lives the earmark of the influence that society has
impressed on them in their early youth. It is there-
fore only western women who start life with the
handicap of a lesser education who, through hard
work and perseverance, are generally the women
who accomplish things in the Western world. This
is not the case with the Turkish women of this
generation. They have had an opportunity to study
and prepare thoroughly until they had reached
maturity. They had no social life to interfere with
their studies. It is true that they did not prepare
to enter personally the different fields of activity
as they did not expect that their full emanci-
pation would come so soon. But they were con-
scious of being the mothers ,of the coming gener-

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 57

ation, and to prepare their sons and daughters for
their task, they equipped themselves with all the
knowledge they desired to impart. And they had
plenty of leisure to do this. That is why you see
now so many Turkish women efficient in the ac-
tivities they have deliberately shouldered/'

"Tell me, my aunt, how did the participation of
Turkish women in all activities of life come to
pass? Was it sudden or , gradual?"

"When the war came and all the men were
called to the front, women unostentatiously stepped
into the employments left vacant. As is generally
the case in all movements of emancipation for
which people are really ready the movement start-
ed in the lower classes. Pushed by necessity, some
young girls dared to apply for clerical employ-
ments in shops and offices. At the time hundreds
of ladies of the higher classes were engaged in
helping at home the Red Crescent and other relief
works. They had studied nursing. Encouraged by
the fact that their less fortunate sisters had met
with no opposition and were working openly in
shops and offices, they in turn offered their ser-
vices as nurses. Much of the field work and hos-
pital work of the Red Crescent was confided to
fthem to liberate men for military service. This
Is just what happened in other countries. But the
change was greater and more permanent in Tur-
key. The daily contact of Turkish women with
the public during the war years resulted of course

58 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

in tearing down the social walls which had so far
secluded them. And once these walls were de-
stroyed no one desired to build them up again.
Turkish women had proved their administrative
and organizing capacities in relief and charitable
work during the war. There was no reason why
they should not continue to give the country the
benefit of their services even after the general war
was ended. Furthermore there was still much re-
lief and charitable work to be done and Turkey
needed good administrators and organisers in many
fields. So within a few years, but with gradual
steps, the emancipation of Turkish women became
complete, and to-day it is so thorough that any
woman in Turkey can fill any responsible position
as long as she has shown herself capable of it.
In Anatolia, we have a woman, Halide Hanoum,
who was elected Minister of Public Education by
the National Assembly.,,

I wanted to know how Anatolia and the rural
districts had reacted to this emancipation of
women.

"The peasant women were always more emanci-
pated than the city women, my son. Our pea-
sants have remained in a way much nearer to the
original precepts of our religion and to the old
traditions of the Turks than our city dwellers.
We have deviated from our religion and racial
traditions by the contact we were forced to enter
into with the degenerate Levantine elements dwell-

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 59

ing in the cities. Muslim laws placed women on
equality with men long before western laws did
so, and at the time of the Prophet women were
allowed more freedom than they ever had before.
The Koran is full of mentions of women who were
participating in public life and the only restriction
placed on women in the Holy Book — a restric-
tion which was necessary to correct the customs of
the Arabs living in warm climates — is that women
should not appear in public unless they were cov-
ered from the breasts down to the ankles. This
is a simple rule of decency and modesty. As for
the original Turkish customs they used to be so
liberal that women participated in public affairs
among the nomad Turkish tribes roaming on the
plateau of Pamir, centuries ago. Many a Turkish
woman was then the recognized chieftain of her
tribe. Many a Turkish Joan of Arc has fought
on the battlefields shoulder to shoulder with her
warriors. It is only after the Muslims and the
Turks came in contact with the decadent Byzantine
Empire, it is only after the Turks conquered the
dissolute colonies of old Rome and ancient Greece
in Asia Minor that the Turks — especially those who
settled in the cities — adopted certain customs of
the conquered races. Unfortunately these cus-
toms are identified to-day, in the eyes of the for-
eigners, with the Turks and the Muslims as if
they had originated with them. But that is not
the case. While polygamy was not strictly for-

60 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

bidden so as to prevent — as was then the case in
Europe — the increase of bastards and illegitimate
children, Harems in the original sense of the word
did not exist in Muslim or Turkish countries un-
til they assimilated byzantine customs. The seclu-
sion of women in separate apartments where they
were condemned to lead the life of recluses pamp-
ered and spoiled solely for the pleasure of their
master, can be retraced to the "Gyneceum" of
Byzance. So can the custom of veiling the women
when they went out, as evidenced by the pictures
on old Grecian vases. The barbarous institu-
tion of Eunuchs is exclusively Byzantine. All
these were certainly not originally Turkish cus-
toms and they have nearly never been practised by
the peasants and country people of Turkey, except
the custom which made it obligatory for women
to be entirely veiled in the presence of men. Other-
wise the rural population never restricted its
women in any way. They always participated in
the every-day life of their men. You should have
been with us when I went to Eski-Shehir, in Ana-
tolia, with your uncle during the war." Here my
aunt drew such a picture of her arrival at Eski-
Shehir that I will try to give an account of it, in
her own words.

"It was before your uncle was taken ill," she
said, "and he was considering starting some local
industries in Anatolia. He chose Eski-Shehir on
account of the railroad facilities it offers and we

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 61

went there. Only a few men who had been pre-
vented from going to war on account of old age
or infirmity were left in the country. But the
people who had heard that a pasha from Constanti-
nople was coming with his wife, sent a delegation
to meet us at the station. They insisted on our
being their guests and they informed us that they
had especially prepared a house for us. To re-
fuse would have hurt their feelings. They had
chosen the best available house in the whole neigh-
bourhood. It was located far in the country at
an hour and a nalfs ride in a carriage from the
station. We arrived in the evening and by the
time the customary greetings had been exchanged
with the delegation it was already dark. The
whole delegation insisted on forming an escort of
honour and accompanying us to our lodgings. We
took a carriage and the ten or twelve peasants
which formed the delegation got on their horses,
two preceding us, the rest forming a semi-circle
around our carriage. In the dark night we went
through valleys and hilltops escorted by this most
picturesque cavalcade; mostly old men with white
beards, but sitting straight on their horses. Of
the only two young men who were there, one
was blind in one eye, and the other was lame.
They all wore their country costumes: trousers
cut as riding breeches but worn without leggings,
wide belts of gay colour wrapped from hips to
the middle of the breast and tight-fitting tunics

62 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

crossed by cartridge-bearing leather thongs. With
their turbaned heads and their rifles swinging
from their shoulders they made a martial picture
in contrast with their courteous demeanour, their
subdued voices and their most peaceful eyes. I
must say, however, that it was a reassuring escort
to have for crossing the country at night.

We arrived at the house, a darling little farm-
house of one floor in the midst of tall trees which
reflected their spectral shadows in the gurgling
black waters of a stream. Our escort dismounted
and entered the house with us where we were re-
ceived by a committee of women. They had pre-
pared supper and had made everything ready for
us. They were dressed in long, flowing robes,
their heads covered with a veil and they stood
respectfully with their hands folded, watching us
carefully so as to anticipate our smallest wishes.
Dear, pure, honest country folk of Anatolia ! How
much (they can teach us, how much they can
teach the western world of hospitality, modesty
and faithfulness! The women were veiled in the
presence of men, but they acted their part as
hostesses while the men talked in the same room
with my husband. After having settled us to their
own satisfaction they departed all together, even
the owners of the house insisting on leaving so
that we might be more comfortable. They left
us their servants to take care of us. Next day
and all the days of our stay at Eski-Shehir,

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 63

groups of peasant girls would come to visit me,
to enquire if I needed anything and to entertain
me as best they could. They would shyly stand
at the door until I forced them to come in. I
had all the trouble in the world to break them
of the habit of sitting on the floor out of respect
to their guests, as they considered it ill-bred to
sit on a level with me. They would come in the
evenings, for during the day they would be busy
working in their fields. Healthy and strong
women they were, with red cheeks and bashful
eyes. They were not the type of women living
for the pleasure of their husbands, or of slaves
toiling for their masters. They were wholesome
women, good daughters, good wives, good mothers
who had for generations been conscious of their
duty to the community and accomplished it effi-
ciently— helpmates freely helping their men, freely
assisting them or willingly shouldering their hus-
bands' responsibility in case of absence and taking
care of the welfare of their families, their homes,
their fields or their villages. And withal keeping
their unassuming modesty intact — the modesty
which is, or should be, the national characteristic
of all Turkish women."

My aunt was silent for a while. Her com-
pelling personality made us fully share her love
for her Anatolian sisters. She slowly got up
and gave the signal for returning home. We
walked together. It was our last day in Erenkeuy

64 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

and I had not yet exhausted her views on the
subject of the emancipation of Turkish women. I
now asked her if she thought that its influence
had been salutory upon general morality in the
big cities.

"It certainly has," answered my aunt. "In
the old days we did not know the friends of our
husbands, brothers or sons. We were excluded
from the company of men and could not therefore
help our own sons in selecting their friends. Much
less of course our husbands. We always feared
the deteriorating influence that even one bad asso-
ciate can have on a whole crowd. The Turkish
proverb says that one bad apple is sufficient to
rot a whole basket full of good apples. Men left
to their own resources are liable to seek distraction
in drinking, in cards and other unwholesome pas-
times. Many a Turkish man has suffered in the
past the consequences of the exclusion of women
from social gatherings — just as many a western
man suffers now from the consequences of leading
too absorbing a club life. But now that we par-
ticipate in social reunions as well as in other
activities we can more fully make our influence
felt among the men. Our continuous contact
with their friends has rendered our husbands,
brothers and sons more careful about the char-
acter of the men they associate with. Now that
you are married you would not ask to your house
a man about whose character you might have

MODERN TURKISH WOMEN 65

some doubts. But if your wife was not with you,
you might not be so strict about the manners and
the behaviour of those you associate with.

Of course we Turkish women of this generation
have a double duty to perform now that we have
acquired our freedom. We must first see that this
freedom is not turned into license as in some
western countries, where young men and young
girls are allowed to go out alone in couples, or —
still worse — where husbands and wives cultivate
different sets of friends. We must also watch
very carefully over our modesty, and this is our
most difficult task. Many Turkish women are
taking advantage of their new freedom to trample
all modesty under their feet. Alas! too many are
already "over-westernized" and associate too
freely with foreigners or with Levantinized Turks
in the salons of Pera. Not that I object to the
society of foreign men, but how are we to know
the character and the antecedents of all those for-
eigners who are at present in Constantinople?
They are mostly officers in a far-away van-
quished country or civilians desirous of staking
their all in get-rich-quick business ventures. How
are we to know of their education, their morals
and their principles? We are therefore obliged
to be especially careful with foreign men. Our
duty now is to raise the new generation of girls
as rationally as the well-educated western girls.
We want our girls to preserve their modesty, no

66 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

matter how free they are, we want them to know
how to take good care of themselves, no matter
whom .they associate with. We don't want them
to abuse their freedom. We want them to be as
rational and thoughtful as my little American
daughter here."

And so saying my aunt lovingly passed her arm
on my wife's shoulders, in a graceful movement
of all-embracing protection. They looked at each
other with comprehending love. The girl of New
Orleans smiled her grateful appreciation in the
eyes of the woman of Turkey.

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS

TT was with real regrets that we left Erenkeuy.
A visit in such a congenial atmosphere ends
always too soon even if it has extended over two
weeks. But I wanted my wife to know our
cousins who lived on the Bosphorus, to whom
we had already announced our coming, and I
wanted her to come in close touch with the dif-
ferent aspects of home life in Turkey, to see the
Turks from different angles. So we had to tear
ourselves from Erenkeuy, after exchanging re-
peated promises of seeing each other soon and
often in town, promises which — needless to say —
were kept faithfully on both sides.

In the strict sense of the word our cousins
are not really cousins of ours and would not even
count as relations in western countries. How-
ever, as I said before, family bonds are so strong
in Turkey, the clan spirit is so developed, that
we call cousins even the nephews of our aunts
by marriage. We consider them as such and we
are brought up to feel toward them as such.

Our cousins live on the European side of the
Bosphorus, at Emirghian, about half-way between
the Sea of Marmora and the Black Sea, in one of

67

68 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

those old houses built right on the edge of the
water. Theirs is one of the few remaining typi-
cally Turkish country houses on the Bosphorus,
most of the others have either been destroyed by
fire, fallen in ruins, or else been replaced by modern
structures — villas, apartment houses, warehouses
and depots which have, alas, contaminated with
their ultra-modern and commercial appearance the
otherwise smilingly passive shores of the Bos-
phorus. Thus this waterway, unique in the world,
this natural canal between two seas, which winds
its way in graceful curves between the green hills
of two continents, offers now the sad spectacle
of charred ruins — where a few tumbling walls
blackened by fire are all that is left of the beauti-
ful estates which adorned it but a few years ago —
with here and there a few pretentious buildings
whose showy architecture is a patent proof of the
rapidity with which their owners have accumu-
lated wealth during the war and post-war profiteer-
ing period. Worst of all, the lower Bosphorus
is now bristling with quite a few high apartment
houses peopled with chattering and noisy Levan-
tines. Such apartment houses, with their tenants, are
as out of place on the wonderful shores of this peer-
less waterway as the corrugated roofs and asbestos
walls of the coal depots and general merchandising
warehouses, hastily erected in recent years under
the guidance of interested — if inartistic — foreign
business men.

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS 69

All the way to Emirghian I gave thanks to
the Almighty for having protected at least a
few imperial palaces and a few old estates which
could still give an idea of what the Bosphorus
looked like before the war. A few, low, rambling
buildings of one or, at the most, two floors, grow-
ing lengthwise instead of upward, without a
thought of economizing the land, surrounded
with parks where grow old trees, are happily still
left as a living proof of past splendour and good
taste, and complete disregard of business ad-
vantages.

Our cousin's house is one of them, possibly a lit-
tle more dilapidated, a little less comfortable than
most of the other surviving buildings, as it has
been for a very long time deprived of the yearly
repairs that so large a house always needs. But
what do we care: within the walls of its almost
limitless entrance hall, on the wide steps of its
gorgeously curved classical starways, behind the
latticed windows of its immense rooms, the hos-
pitality we find is as sincere and as great as the
one extended generations ago by one of the most
brilliant Grand Vezirs of Turkey, who was then
the head of the family, at a time when to be the
Grand Vezir of Turkey really meant all the splen-
dour that the world suggests.

Our hostess is a widow who speaks French so
fluently that she would be taken for a French
woman if she did not have the graceful poise and

70 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

dignity so typical of Turkish women. Her hus-
band filled a most important position in the Im-
perial palace in the time of the late Sultan, and
was one of the most accomplished men I have
ever met anywhere. Besides being a distinguished
diplomat he was an art connoisseur and had ac-
cumulated a priceless collection of antique pictures,
porcelains, carpets and books. Alas, this collection
was destroyed a few years ago when their town
house fell the victim of one of those all-destroying
fires characteristic of Constantinople. Only a few
of the secondary pieces of the collection which
were left in their country house on the Bosphorus
can still be seen there and are an attestation of
what the collection used to be. To cap it all,
the collection was insured in pre-war days in
Turkish pounds which at that time had a gold
value, and the fire having taken place during the
war, and insurance being paid after the armistice,
the family could only collect Turkish paper pounds.
Thus, besides the irreparable moral loss, they had
to suffer a very large material loss by recovering
only one seventh of the value the collection was
insured originally for. This is another example
among millions of the terrible losses suffered in
the last years by the Turks for reasons absolutely
outside their control. It is a wonder that, despite
all, they keep their composure and their dignity.
Calm before the most unimaginable trials, keeping
a firm front through the worst calamities, never

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS ft

complaining, never discouraged, never losing
faith — truly the Turkish race is the most stoical
of all.

Our young host, the only son of the family, is
just on a leave from Germany where he went dur-
ing the war to finish his studies and where he
has remained since then, having obtained a leading
position in one of the largest electrical engineering
enterprises in Germany. His mother is justly
proud of the success of her son and we frankly
rejoice with her that one of us, a pure Turk
in all respects, has evidently acquired such a
complete technical knowledge and has shown so
much capacity as to be picked out to fill a respon-
sible position in one of the leading firms of a
country known the world over for the technical
ability of its electrical engineers. We ask Kemal
to tell us his experiences in Germany, but he is
too modest to talk of himself. He prefers to tell
us how his firm is organized. He greatly admires
the Germans for their efficiency but is not other-
wise very keen about living with them. He finds
the Germans too machine made, too materialistic
to suit a Turk. His one ambition is to perfect
himself in his profession and then to settle in
Turkey where he will be able to give to his
country the benefit of the knowledge he will
have acquired. He wants to return to Ger-
many for this purpose, but when we press him
to tell us if it is for this purpose alone he admits

72 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

that he has another more personal reason: he is
engaged to a young girl in Munich and at the
end of his leave his mother will accompany him
to Germany where he will get married. The poor
boy is heart-broken that his father, Ismet Bey,
did not live long enough to meet his wife. Kemal
speaks English most perfectly and says that his
future wife does so also. He is therefore looking
forward to having her meet her new cousin, my
wife.

The drawing-room in which we were was a
spacious room with many doors and windows.
The lattices were up and the windows opened and
the breeze from the Bosphorus is so cool at this
season that the great open fireplace where big
logs burned was barely enough to warm the room.
We sat near the windows on a wide divan which
skirted about one-fourth of the walls of the room,
and to keep us warmer they had placed at the
corner nearest to us, a big brazero of shining
copper, filled with glowing charcoal. The win-
dows were nearly over the water, so near in fact
that the rustling of the current, which is quite
strong on the Bosphorus, was plainly audible. It
gave the impression of being on a ship: the blue
waters ran southward in an endless chain of
racing wavelets and the house seemed to be float-
ing toward the north. But opposite us the green
hills of Asia, with a line of houses skirting the
shores and with big Anatolian mountains tower-

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS 73

ing the blue-gray horizon reminded us that our
seeming flight toward the Black Sea was only an
illusion caused by the incessant rush of the current.
Big "mahons" or Turkish barges which have kept
the graceful lines of the old caiks, passed before
our eyes, gliding silently on the blue wavelets,
their Oriental triangular sails swelled in the breeze.
A large Italian cargo boat plowed its way toward
some romantic port of the Black Sea: Costanza,
where Roumanian peasant girls will purchase its
cargo of vividly coloured textiles in exchange
for oil, so much needed in Italy, or perhaps
Batoum, where a cosmopolitan crowd of trad-
ers will give flour, sugar and other food
supplies to the starving population of Caucasia
against non-edible jewels, furs or platinum of
limitless value. Who knows? Perhaps it goes to
Odessa or Novorossisk to try bartering with Tar-
tars and Russians, Mongols and even Chinamen
who now form the motley crowd of Bolshevik
Southern Russia. The Bosphorus is the gate of a
whole world — a world fraught with mysterious
possibilities; tempting opportunities of stupendous
gains, frightful danger of very real losses, com-
mercial and political possibilities of such magni-
tude that it makes you shudder to think of them.
And here we are at the very gate of this world,
a gate patrolled as usual by England. See that
gray destroyer, slim as an arrow, speeding toward
its base, the harbour of Constantinople. It flies

74 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

the British flag and is coming back from the
Black Sea.

I am called back from my dreams and visions
by Madame Ismet Bey who is pointing out the
outstanding places of the landscape to my wife.
From where we are the Bosphorus looks like a
lake, the sinuous curves at the two ends making
it impossible to distinguish where Europe ends
and Asia begins. There, on our extreme left and
near the water, is the country estate of Khedive
Ismail Pasha, father of the last Khedive of Egypt
who was dethroned by England during the war
because of his pro-Turkish sentiments. Ismail
Pasha's estate is in Europe but the hills which
seem next to it are on the other side, in Asia,
and the funny looking buildings on top as well
as the low buildings on the shore are the depots
of the Standard Oil Company. They used to
belong to an uncle of Madame Ismet Bey but
now they belong to the Standard Oil. No, her
uncle has not sold his rights : it just happened that
the Standard Oil stepped in before he had time
to have them renewed. His house, or what used
to be his house is the one just opposite us. He
used to have the most beautiful caiks in the Bos-
phorus, ten or fifteen years ago, and his wife and
his daughters would go every Friday to the Sweet
Waters of Asia in those long, slim racing barks,
with tapering ends, rowed by three or sometimes
four boatmen with flowing sleeves, a beautiful em-

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS 7$

broidered carpet covering the stern, its corners
trailing in the sea. He used to have a passion
for flowers and you can see even from here the
roof of the hot-house where he grew the most
exotic plants he could think of: rare varieties of
chrysanthemums and poppies from the Far East,
tulips from Turkestan and Persia, mogra and
lotus trees from India. Now he has sold his
house and has barely enough to live on.

The Sweet Waters of Asia are nearby, just be-
tween the ruins of the old mediaeval castle — built
by Sultan Mahomet the Conqueror before he laid
siege to Byzance — and the Imperial Kiosks of
Chiok Soo, a real jewel. Further to the right — that
low, rambling white building is the yali of the
family of Mahmoud Pasha. They entertain a
great deal and have asked us to tea next Sun-
day. Now we pass again without realizing it
to the European shores; the old castle on the hill
is the Castle of Europe, the first stronghold of
the Turks on this side of the Bosphorus, and the
big building next to it is the famous Robert Col-
lege, the American College for Boys.

The view is so gorgeous that it cannot be
described. I wish I had a canvas and the tech-
nique of Courbet, the talent of Turner and the
daring of Whistler to paint in all its splendour
the clear sky of the Bosphorus, so clear and so
blue that the eyes can almost see that it is endless
— the red and gold flakes of its dark-green vegeta-

76 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

tion, so luxuriant that it speaks of centuries of
loving care — the peaceful atmosphere of its old
houses, so restful that you can feel that genera-
tions of thinkers and philosophers have meditated
behind their walls — the harmonious outline of its
hills, so smilingly round that only immemorial age
can have so smoothly curved them — the mystery
of its always running currents, running so con-
tinuously that they should have long ago emptied
the Black Sea into the Mediterranean. I wish I
was endowed with enough insight to understand
the mischievous whisper of its always dancing, al-
ways running little waves. I believe they want to
tell us that although the winds have pushed them
south ever since time began and will continue to
push them south until the end of the world, al-
though they seem to follow the wind in an endless
mad rush, they still are there. They mis-
chievously laugh because they will always remain
there, despite the wind and all its strength. I
believe they want to give the Turks an object
lesson as to how nothing can be swept away
against its will.

Our first evening in Emirghian passed very
quietly. The Turks being very reserved by nature
it always takes some time before the ice is broken,
even among members of the same family. We
passed the time sitting around and talking, giving
a chance to our hosts and to my wife to know
each other.

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS 77

But for every day thereafter Madame Ismet
Bey and her son had arranged some special enter-
tainment for us. Quietly, unostentatiously and
with the characteristic lack of show with which
well-bred Turks entertain their guests, they suc-
ceeded in giving us, without our being aware that
it had all been pre-arranged, a different distrac-
tion every afternoon. Friends and neighbours
would drop in for tea one evening and a little
dance or a little bridge game would be organized
as on the spur of the moment. Another after-
noon they would take us in their rowboat for an
outing on the Bosphorus and we would stop
either to call on some friends or to walk around
or take some refreshments in the casino of the
park at Beikos, which at this season is quiet and
pleasant. Once we had a small picnic at the Sweet
Waters of Asia. We went in the rowboat up this
little stream — a miniature Bosphorus, with old
tumbled-down houses by the water, big trees lean-
ing their branches covered with autumnal golden
leaves over old walls covered with vines, here and
there a ramshackle wooden bridge spanning the
stream and giving it the appearance of a Turkish
Venice, and then large meadows on both sides,
where groups of people were, like us, taking ad-
vantage of the last few days of summery sun-
shine of the year. Old Turkish women in black
dusters, their hair covered with a white veil ar-
ranged Sphinx fashion, were sitting cross-legged

78 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

near the water in silent and impassible contem-
plation, while younger women — their daughters
or granddaughters — were sitting a few steps away
on chairs, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes
and chattering away their time. Small boys in
vividly coloured shirts, knickers hanging loose be-
low their knees, wearing shapeless fezzes with a
small blue bead — against the evil eye — would be
running around and prancing with little girls clad
in Kate Greenaway skirts coloured with the bright-
est shades of the rainbow, their loosened hair
flapping over their narrow shoulders. Simple folk
all, neither peasants or city folk — just the families
of small village traders — the kind of people whose
pictures foreign newspapermen find a malign
pleasure in publishing as representative Turks.
They might as well publish pictures of tenement
house dwellers of New York and London as being
representative Americans or Britishers. Many
gypsies were there, going from group to group
to tell fortunes, to sing or to dance, gypsy women
of all ages and of suspicious cleanliness, who can
always be detected in Constantinople by the fact
that they are the only ones to wear coloured
bloomers, while some old Greek and Armenian
women wear black bloomers. By the way, another
conception of foreigners which my wife shared
but which she lost after a short stay in Constanti-
nople was this very one of bloomers: in all our

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS 79

stay in Turkey she did not see a single Turkish
woman wearing them.

A little further up on the shores of the stream
was a group of Kurdish porters, big, athletic
fellows, watching a bout of wrestling: two of
their companions stripped to the waist, their legs
and feet bare, their bodies soaked in oil, engaged
in a k bout of cat-as-catch-can, while further up
some Laze sailors of the Black Sea were dancing
their slow rhythmic national dance to the sound
of weird flutes and tambourines

We had to go well upstream to find a place
where we could enjoy our picnic peacefully and
without onlookers. But I must say that we en-
joyed it thoroughly, quite as much as the specta-
cle we had on our way up and down the river. I
could not help however realizing how much a few
years had changed the general aspect of the Sweet
Waters of Asia. Before my departure it used to
be the smartest place to go to during the good
season on Friday and Sunday afternoons. You
would meet all your friends there and the place
used to be congested with the most graceful
"caiks" and rowboats of the Bosphorus.

On Sunday we went to tea at the house of
Mahmoud Pasha. It was a big affair, almost
an official reception, as are all entertainments
given by the family of Mahmoud Pasha. This
family is what might be called another great and
old Turkish clan. At present it is probably the

80 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

most socially prominent Turkish family of Constan-
tinople and the reason underlying its social activi-
ties is quite well known among the other Turkish
families who, while possibly not entirely approv-
ing them, hold the family of Mahmoud Pasha in
great respect for the utterly unselfish manner in
which all its members live up to their, convictions.
Its social activities are looked upon as having a
political reason or significance. In the first place
the family was one of the first and bitterest ene-
mies of the Committee of Union and Progress
which, after engineering most marvellously the
Turkish Revolution, had instituted a most objec-
tionable sort of plural dictatorship conducted by
its own members. Mahmoud Pasha's family who,
like all the other old Turkish families, did not
approve of this dictatorship of the few, became
very active in the Liberal Party organized in op-
position to the Committee. So far, so good! But
with the extreme enthusiasm which is a character-
istic of all the family, it carried on its war against
the Committee by taking a firm and active stand
against any and all of its policies. It fought the
Committee on every ground, not so much because
it was opposed in principle to this or that other
policy but just because this or that other policy
emanated from the Committee. For this purpose
it joined hands with every party that was formed
against the Committee. It kept up this war for
years and years and one of its members — a most

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS 81

brilliant specimen of young Turkish manhood —
sacrificed his life on the altar of his convictions
during this long-drawn feud. It was quite natural
that when the Committee embraced a pro-German
policy Mahmoud Pasha's family would automati-
cally become anti-Germans. But instead of being
satisfied with fighting this nefarious pro-German
policy by an exclusive pro-Turkish policy — as was
done by most of the other prominent Turkish
families — Mahmoud Pasha's family had to go
one better and ever since the armistice has ac-
tively embraced a pro-British policy. Therefore,
it feels that it can perfectly well entertain and
lead a social life even under the present conditions
in Constantinople. The second reason which
moves this family to participate so actively in the
social life of Constantinople is its belief that after
all social life in the Turkish capital should be
led by the Turks themselves. And rather than
abandon the functions of society leaders to some
foreigners, or worse still to some Greeks, Arme-
nians or Levantines, the family makes every sacri-
fice needed to hold and prolong its leadership.
Therefore it gives large entertainments and weekly
teas amounting to real functions.

The Sunday we called on them the immense
rooms of their magnificent house were crowded
to full capacity. Foreign officers of high rank
in resplendent uniforms, members of the different
high commissions and distinguished visitors of all

82 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

nations were elbowing each other and alas! also
quite a few Levantine, Greek and Armenian busi-
ness men whose standing in the business com-
munity had forcibly made a place for them in
this cosmopolitan clique of Constantinople. Of
course the crowd here was not representative of
Turkish society, but rather of the cosmopolitan
society that one meets in every principal center of
Europe. Only a very few Turks were present,
mostly old friends of the family who had come
more with a desire to show their esteem and
respect for the charming hostesses than mixing
with the international crowd they were sure to
meet there. The three daughters of the family
were doing the honours with a tact and courtesy
only possible in scions of old families whose breed-
ing in etiquette has extended to so many gen-
erations that it has finally become second nature.
They were assisted in their duties by two grand-
daughters of Mahmoud Pasha, two young Turk-
ish debutantes, who were so earnestly endeavour-
ing to overcome their natural shyness and act like
their elders that their charming awkwardness
was really delightful to watch. It amused my
wife greatly to make a mental comparison between
this refreshing shyness of the Turkish debutantes
and the self-confidence and forwardness of their
American sisters. To this day I don't know which
of the two schools my wife really approved of!
Of course the brothers and husbands of our

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS 83

hostesses were also there, circulating from group
to group and introducing the guests to each other.
And to me the most humorous note of the whole
afternoon was given when the husband of one
of our hostesses — a middle-aged gentleman, very
serious and very widely learned — confided to me
that for him entertainments and social functions
of this kind were terrible bores but that he had
to go through with them just to please his wife.
Husbands are the same all over the world! . . .
As I did not contradict him he took me in the
quietest corner we could find and we had a long
and interesting talk on subjects which took us far
away from our surroundings.

Nevertheless I could not help but agree entirely
with my wife when she told us, on our return to
Emirghian, that she had found the whole thing
"somewhat too stiff," and I believe Madame Ismet
Bey was also of our opinion and felt that we were
sincere when we told her that we much preferred
her own small at-homes and the unpretentious
little parties to which she had taken us on the
previous days.

I must say that we met most interesting and
charming people at all these small parties. It is
of course easier to get to know people when
you meet them a few at a time than when you
meet them in a big gathering. Madame Ismet
Bey's friends and neighbours were exceptionally
interesting people. During our stay in Emir-

84 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

ghian we met for instance Ihsan Pasha, the
Turkish general who, being taken prisoner by the
Russians during the war, and having refused to
give his word of honour that he would not attempt
to escape, was exiled to the innermost part of
Siberia. He told us in the most vivid manner
how he ran away from his captors in the middle
of a stormy night, disguised as a peasant; how,
for three long months he had to walk — hunted
and tracked by the Cossacks and travelling only
by night — to reach the Chinese border; how he
arrived, half-starved and completely exhausted in
Mukden, in Mandchouria, where a community of
rich Chinese Moslems gave him hospitality and,
after he had recovered from his three months'
walk across the steppes of Siberia, gave him
money to continue his trip. He told us — but with
much less detail — the difficulties he had had to
elude the Allied Secret Service which were on the
lookout for him when he crossed Japan and the
United States, although America had not yet en-
tered the war at that time. However, he did not
tell us how he succeeded in crossing the Atlantic
despite the severe surveillance of England and how
he succeeded in running the Allied blockade of
Turkey and popped out one day in Constantinople
after every one had entirely given up hope of ever
seeing him alive again. Under the most difficult
and trying circumstances he had thus succeeded
in getting over seemingly unsurmountable obsta-

LIFE ON THE BOSPHORUS 85

cles and accomplishing in war time, tracked by
enemies on all sides, a complete loop around the
world in less than ten months. We could not
help thinking how terrible those long months
must have been for his wife, a charming young
lady, who seemed now to have forgotten all the
horror of these interminable weeks of suspense
and who confided to us that she had never given
up hope as she had an entire trust in the ability
of her husband and an immovable faith in God.
She said that she had passed most of her time
in prayer.

We also met in Emirghian Captain Hassan
Bey and his wife who lived with her family in
a beautiful villa on the hills of Bebek, but a
villa in the old style, in complete harmony with
the surroundings and nestling in a park of old
trees which did not, however shut out the gorge-
ous view of the Bosphorus. From the top of these
hills the Bosphorus looks more like a chain
of small lakes than like a continuous waterway,
the sinuous capes of both continents cutting the
iview of the water in different places. It is like
looking at the lakes of Switzerland from the peak
of a mountain, only one is much nearer the water
and the panorama has no sharp or rugged out-
lines but presents a continuous aspect of smoothly
rounded hills, covered with forests, with mosques
here and there, and with little patches of blue
water. On Fridays all the ships, barges and row-

86 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

boats and all the houses owned by the Turks are
adorned with Turkish flags, red with the white
crescent and star, fluttering in the wind and it
gives to the country a cheerful and gay aspect
which reminds you at a distance of a gorgeous
field of poppies.

Living with Madame Hassan Bey was her
young sisters, a Turkish sub-debutante, but some-
what less shy than the granddaughters of Mah-
moud Pasha, as she is a student of the American
College for Girls. In the course of time it be-
came one of our greatest pleasures to call on
them at Bebek, where they give once in a while a
small informal tea. They live there all the year
round as it is at an easy distance from the city.

VI

STAMBOUE

AT last we settled in Stamboul. It took us a
long time to arrange everything as we
wanted, as it is hard to get upholsterers, carpet
men and all the rest to do their work properly
and rapidly here in Constantinople. Constanti-
nople is not much different in this than any other
city I know. There is possibly this difference
that it is less difficult to explain what you want
and how you want it to decorators who, like those
in western Europe or in America, have already
had experience in putting up a modern home,
than to those in Constantinople who have had none
or very little experience in this line. But any-
how there is always a way to get things done by
working people, and the Turkish workingmen
respond to good treatment in a most willing man-
ner: they are anxious to learn and have much
aptitude for learning.

As we had foreseen the hard work we had ahead
of us, we took the precaution of taking possession
of the house only after we had secured the serv-
ants we needed so that we might count on their
help. As far as servants are concerned the Turks

87

88 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

have surely solved this problem by adapting to
it the same kind of tradition which they maintain
so jealously in their family relations. I mean to
say that it is the custom for generations of serv-
ants to serve the same family of masters, so that
as a rule servants and masters are so attached to
each other that they never think of parting.
Whenever one needs or desires a servant all one
has to do is to look up some of the old servants
of the family who are sure to find a son, a
daughter, a niece or a cousin of theirs who is
only too glad to perpetuate the traditions of his
or her family by serving the family of its old
masters. We, therefore, did not have any diffi-
culty in securing ours, as we took as valet a
young man who was born in my father's house
where his father had been employed for over
thirty years, and our cook was the daughter of
my mother's nurse. She also helped the maid in
keeping the house in order. In this way we
could at any time leave home in peace as we were
confident that our people would look after our
interests, even if we were absent, possibly better
than we could ourselves. And to this day we
have never had any occasion for regretting the
trust we placed in them. Of course for these very
reasons servants in Turkey have a totally different
standing from servants in any other country. They
always know their place, they never dare to take
liberties or to take the slightest advantage of their

STAMBOUL 89

special standing: it is not in their code. But they
consider themselves, and are considered by their
masters, almost as members of the family — second
class members, if that expression could be used.
Our relations with our own people were typical of
these principles and in order to do full justice
to them and to give an accurate idea of what I
mean, I am going to confess that during a period
of our last stay in Constantinople I had to con-
sider seriously the possibility of closing our estab-
lishment and of living more cheaply in some other
quarter. I therefore notified our people that they
would have to look for other positions and that
I could only help them until they found some
place elsewhere. They received the news with an
emotion which I could only hope to find in my own
brothers or sisters, and left the room with tears
in their eyes. Next day they asked to be heard,
the three together, and they informed me that
after having given due consideration to the situa-
tion they had come to the conclusion that now
more than ever they had the opportunity to
show their attachment and devotion to us, that
now more than ever we needed them; therefore
they had decided to stay with us. Do what I
could I could not persuade them to leave. I
found them better paying positions with some
friends or relatives; they refused to go. And for
three months, until I could to some extent over-
come the crisis in my business, they steadily re-

po SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

fused to accept any pay on the ground that if I
paid them we would have to leave the house, and
if we left the house we could not find another
place where we could all live together. Needless to
say that such people cannot be treated as servants
in the western sense of the word, and that they
in turn must have no cause of complaint in regard
to the treatment they receive from their masters.
Of course we made good to them their sacrifices
as soon as we could, and naturally they knew
that we would do so, but I doubt that in any other
place in the world such real devotion could be
found even if those who made the sacrifice had
every reason to be sure that they would eventu-
ally be adequately compensated.

Needless to say that right from the beginning
the manner in which we treated our people was
the friendly manner usual in Turkey. My wife
adapted herself very quickly to this as she is from
the South and I believe that the southern states of
America are the only place where the relations
between masters and servants are anything like
those prevailing in Turkey. Our people of course
had each his own room. The cook, who was a
widow, had with her her little daughter, a child
about three years old, whom we took care of
almost like our adopted child. It happens fre-
quently in Turkey that a child like this is taken
with the mother into a home, the mother doing
some housework and the child becoming what

STAMBOUL 91

is called in Turkish the "child of Heaven" of
the masters of the house — that is, the masters
of the house take care of the child, bringing
it up and educating it just as if it were their
own, but without, however, adopting it legally.
In two years we hope to put our own "child of
Heaven" into the English School for Girls which
has the advantage of a kindergarten over the
American School for Girls. Our people can go
out when they want, but they never do it without
asking us and they never come home a minute
later than they say they will. As they are all very
ambitious to learn and improve themselves we ask
them into our rooms after dinner about once a
week and we talk to them of the world in general
and of interesting topics just as if they were
friends.

They were of course of great help to us when
we were settling down in our house in Stamboul.
Ours was a large stone house with nine good-sized
rooms, one on the ground floor and four on each
other floor. It had a large brick-covered entrance
hall with two separate stairways which in the
old days were used, one as the Harem stairway
and the other as the Selamlik stairway, but of
course we modernized this by using one of them
for service. The walls and ceilings had been all
replastered and with the exception of the entrance
hall which was painted in Turkish blue, were all
calsomined in gray. Of course we had electric

92 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

light throughout and a telephone. The real inno-
vation for Constantinople, however, was that we
changed the kitchen from the basement, where
it generally is located, to the first floor, near the
dining-room where we had a regular American
kitchenette built. Then we had a shower put in
the spacious bathroom. So really the house is as
comfortable as possible. As for the furniture, we
had mostly some of the antique furniture collected
by my father and myself in Western Europe, with
here and there some Turkish embroideries, old
pieces that have been in the family for many gen-
erations, and of course Turkish and Persian
carpets. Despite our western furniture and some
pictures we have on the walls we endeavoured
to keep throughout the Oriental atmosphere of
the house — not the kind of Turkish interior one
sees in exhibitions, adorned with a lot of bric-a-
brac and hangings, but the simple Oriental in-
terior. This has been rather an easy task as our
house is typically Turkish with large rooms of
perfect proportions and big latticed windows.
Therefore, by just placing a very few pieces of
furniture in each room, by having straight hang-
ings of pale Oriental colours in the windows, and
by placing the few really valuable Turkish antiques
in the most prominent place in each room, we
have tried to keep the Turkish atmosphere
which has so much charm and without which it
would be sacrilegious to live in Stamboul, espe-

STAMBOUU 93

daily in a house like the one we have. Our
friends and our guests have told us that we have
succeeded in our endeavours and I believe this to
be true, as an American lady with whom we have
grown to be very good friends since; confided us
that the first day she called on us bringing with
her a letter of introduction from a mutual friend
she was struck by the severe Turkish atmosphere
of our house and — it being her first day in Con-
stantinople and her imagination being full of all
the horrid things she had heard about the Turks
in America — she was rather nervous until she
met my wife who breezed in to greet her in a
perfectly American way. Needless to say that a
short while after she was laughing with us at the
reputation of being "terrible" which the Turks
have abroad.

Certainly no one who has lived in Stamboul can
even conceive where this reputation originated.
Stamboul is the Turkish section of the city
and is peopled exclusively by Turks. Its streets
are so quiet, its crowds are so calm, that they
really deserve much more the adjective of
"peaceful" than that of "terrible." Anyone who
has been in Constantinople prefers Stamboul to
any other section of the city with the possible ex-
ception of some parts of Nishantashe which are
also exclusively inhabited by Turks and have
therefore the same atmosphere of peace and quiet
one finds in Stamboul.

94 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Stamboul has the dignity of a queen. It has
the same refinement, the same poise, the same
nobility that a great lady always has no matter
what her circumstances. Many of the houses are
tumbling down. Alas ! too many of the people liv-
ing there are shabbily dressed — nay even some of
them are now in rags. But her smallest streets,
her humblest shacks have an inexpressible dignity
which is at once apparent. Stamboul is a thor-
oughbred. Despite her misery and her intense
sufferings, despite all her ruins and the poverty
of her inhabitants, Stamboul is a queen. She has
a soul of her own, very much alive and very com-
passionate— a soul which appeals to foreigners
and to the Turks alike — perhaps because of the
feeling of love and compassion which emanates
from her and wins for her the hearts of Turks
and foreigners. She loves her children: more
than thirty thousand families have in the last ten
years seen their houses destroyed by fire but some-
how or other not one member of those thirty
thousand families has remained without shelter.
Stamboul has provided them with a roof and there
they are, all her children, somewhat crowded it
is true, but all living within her hospitable walls.
She loves the foreigners and receives them with
the greatest hospitality, she adopts those who can
understand her and treats them even better than
her own children: she has named two of her
streets after Pierre Loti and Claude Farrere, her

STAMBOUL 95

great French friends, so that their names will
remain forever alive within her walls. All who
come to her fall in love with her, and my wife and
myself fell immediately under her spell: she is so
good, so sad, so peaceful !

Our house is on one of her principal streets,
a wide avenue which leads to the Sublime Porte
and then on to the Mausoleum of Sultan Mahmoud.
The avenue, like most of the principal streets of
Stamboul, is bordered with old plane trees where
pigeons, and nightingales, have made their home.
From our windows we see the court of the Su-
blime Porte, a big tumbled-down building where
all the principal government departments are con-
centrated. The gates of the Sublime Porte are
night and day guarded by Turkish soldiers and
policemen, clean-cut young Turks, tanned from
the sun and the invigorating air of their birth-
place in Anatolia. Every hour of the day or of
the night two of them tramp before the gate
opposite our house, in rain or in sunshine, in snow
or in fog. At the corner of the court there is a
little mosque built especially for their use so
that they can go five times a day to prayer. Five
times a day the "muezzin" appears atop the slen-
der minaret and in his soulful chant calls the
soldiers and the neighbourhood to prayer. And
they all pray: when the sun rises and when it
goes down, in the middle of the day, in the
middle of the afternoon and in the middle of

96 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

the night. Five times a day they give thanks
to the Almighty, fervently confirm their faith that
there is no god but God, and beg Him to assist
them in following the straight path, the path to
salvation. Can people of this kind be as black as
they are represented abroad? Is it not monstrous
to accuse them of so many dark crim.es? Is it
not criminal to even give credence — without in-
vestigating— to all of the deeds they are repre-
sented as doing by people who must have an ul-
terior motive? For my part I can't believe these
people capable of even hurting a fly or of killing
a wolf, unless it be in self-defense. And I can
truthfully say that my belief is not based on senti-
mental reasons or influenced by patriotic motives.
I know the people, I have watched them for days
and months from our windows in Stamboul, these
Turkish peasant soldiers of Anatolia; I have read
in their eyes only resignation, passivity, and love.
I have seen how they treat little children, how
they take care of poor stray dogs. No, they can-
not possibly harm anyone unless it be in self-
defense.

From the upper story of our house we can see
the entrance of the Bosphorus, that enchanting
piece of blue water which lures all that have seen
it once. We see it through the branches of trees,
between the Sublime Porte and a brick building
on the left, the headquarters of some newspaper.
Towering above it are the houses of Galata and

STAMBOUL 97

Pera forming an amphitheatre much more pleasing
to the eye at a distance than from nearby. We
also see the dark-green trees of the park of the Old
Seraglio, where a few slender towers, a few
slanting gray roofs mark the position of its im-
perial buildings. Truly our house is situated in
the heart of Stamboul, that is why we can feel it
throbbing so plainly, that is why we can learn to
know her so well.

The famous Santa Sophia, the Mosque of Sultan
Ahmed with its six slender minarets, the Square
of the Hippodrome, Where the decadent emperors
of Byzance.held horse races nearly six centuries
ago, even the famous bazaars are all within our
range, almost within view of our house. And
we pass our first weeks after we have settled in
visiting all these places, not as tourists, but for
the purpose of knowing them, of communing with
them so that we will feel that we have become one
with our surroundings. We go time and again
to the Old Seraglio, whose nooks and corners be-
come as familiar to us as if we had lived there,
the Old Seraglio whose every building, every
kiosk, every room is still alive with the history of
Turkey's past grandeur, whose garden still glows
with the life of all the great Sultans and of their
courtiers who lived and died there. From its outer
court with its long alley of tall cypresses and pop-
lars gently swaying to the breeze as if bewailing
past splendours, from its outer Council Room

98 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

where generations of grave Pashas robed in sable
furs covered with silk brocades and with be-
jeweled turbans have discussed affairs of State
and international policies while powerful Sultans
were listening from behind the golden lattices
of a small balcony, from the informal audience
room from which a Sultan chased the Am-
bassador of Louis XIV, King of France, for hav-
ing dared to sit in his presence, to the court where
another Sultan was murdered by his Janissaries,
to the Kiosk of the Lilacs to the laboratory where
learned doctors prepared drugs for their august
masters, to the very trunk of the old plane tree
in the shade of which a resentful Sultan signed
the decree condemning to death one of his gen-
erals who had failed to capture Vienna, and to
the marble terrace of the Badgad kiosk where
a poet Sultan improvised his immortal verses
to his Sultana, the place seems to be full of
living shadows and remembrances. It seems as if
it were only asleep and semi-consciously waiting a
signal to people again all its buildings and its gar-
dens with Princes and soldiers continuing their in-
terrupted earthly existence.

We go time and again to all the different
mosques of the neighbourhood, places renowned the
world over for their architecture and which are
so impregnated by the prayers Which generations
of faithful believers have made within their walls
five times a day for centuries and centuries, that

STAMBOUL 99

they vibrate with spirituality and force you to
meditation — not a sad meditation with visions of
everlasting fires to expiate earthly sins, but en-
couraging meditation which whispers into your
ears that God who has created such beautiful sur-
roundings for a city like Constantinople, God who
has given the power to human beings to conceive
and construct such cheerful and elevating temples
of worship and prayer cannot and will not create
another life where the miseries of this one are
continued and multiplied eternally. A meditation
which makes you realize that if winter comes,
spring cannot be far behind!

Then again we go often to the Bazaars, not
necessarily to hunt for antiques or to purchase
things, but to get acquainted with the little old
shopkeepers, the second-hand booksellers with
White beards and turbans, sitting placidly in their
small stores surrounded by books — hand-written
books in Turkish, Arabic or Persian, illuminated
with delicate multi-hued designs and covered with
priceless old leather bindings; little old shop-
keepers who receive you as a guest and as a
friend, offer you tea and talk with you for hours
on such and such a book, this or the other school
of philosophy, this or the other Arabic, Persian
or Turkish writer — without even thinking of sell-
ing you a book. In our visits to the Bazaars we
carefully avoid the Jew, Armenian or Greek an-
tique dealers hunting in the covered streets of the

ioo SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

place for foreigners and other easy prey. After
a visit or two we are known even by them and we
can freely wander in the streets without being mo-
lested by their employees who try to induce stran-
gers to visit their shops. We make friends with two
or three dealers in the Bedesten, the central hall
of the Bazaars, a huge circular place covered with
a round dome where stands are like wide shelves
and where shopkeepers sit cross-legged sur-
rounded by genuine works of art, jewels and
furniture piled in a beautiful disorder one on
top of the other. We make friends with a few of
these vendors — old men who have kept their stands
since their early youth, people who knew my
father, or an uncle or a cousin of mine, who adopt
us as if we were one of them. Thereafter we have
no more need of worrying; if we want to pur-
chase something we have only to tell them and
they will get it for us if it exists in Stamboul, if
we see something that we want in one of the an-
tique stores and are afraid that it is not genuine
or that the storekeeper will ask us a price above
its real value, we just have to speak of it to one
of our friends and he will expertise it for us and
purchase it for us at its real value. You see we
are related to the late Reshad Bey — may the
Mercy of God be on his soul — and all these old
merchants were friends of his, and he had through
their offices and with their cooperation made the
most precious collection of Turkish antiquities that

STAMBOUL 101

exists to this day in Constantinople. And for the
peace of Reshad Bey's soul, for friendship to him,
these good old people want to help us whenever
they can.

Thus we have gradually entered into the inner
life of Stamboul and identified ourselves with it.
And we love it the more for the way it has treated
us. But who would not? People in Stamboul are
so different from those in Pera. Even the ordi-
nary storekeepers, the butcher, the grocer and the
candlestick maker are honest and courteous here,
whereas honesty and politeness are as rare in Pera
as the mythical stone of the Alchemists. The
Levantines, Greeks and Armenians of Pera think
they have found a speedier and better way to
change everything they touch into gold, and judg-
ing by their prosperity their system may be ef-
ficient in so far as it secures gains. But the
Turks in Stamboul do not worry about material
gains. All they want is peace and tranquillity.
And how can you secure peace with your neigh-
bours, how can you secure the tranquillity of your
own mind if you are not courteous to every one
and if you are not honest?

So it is a real pleasure to go shopping in Stam-
boul and we absolutely avoid Pera when we want
or need anything. One can find everything in
Stamboul when one knows where to look for it.
We have found even English and American chintz
for the curtains of our bedrooms and at half the

102 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

price we would have to pay for them in Pera. The
little cabinet maker around the corner has restored
one of our Chippendale chairs, which was broken
on its way from America, so well that the repairs
cannot be detected even after a very close scru-
tiny. And the funny part of it is that he never
had seen a Chippendale chair before in his life.
Right near our house is a shoe-store. I realized
one Sunday morning that I had forgotten to cash
a cheque the previous day and as the banks were
closed and cheques are very little used in Turkey,
my wife and I were wishing we were in America
where we could have cashed one at a hotel, a club
or even a store where we were known. I decided
to take a chance and send our man with a cheque
for ten Turkish pounds to the shoe-store to ask
if they would cash it for me. A few minutes later
our man came back with the cheque — and with
the ten pounds, the storekeeper having absolutely
refused to accept the cheque on the grounds that
he had entire confidence in us, that he was sure we
would pay him back next day or the day after, and
that his retaining the cheque would be tantamount
to mistrusting us. I could not help thinking that
it takes an honest man to have confidence in the
honesty of some one else. And one has all the
time such proofs of honesty when one deals with
the small Turkish traders. I must admit however
that they have two standards of principles when it
comes to naming a price for their merchandise or

STAMBOUL 103

for their services : the first standard which applies
to their steady customers and to Turks exclusively
and which is one of strict honesty satisfied with
a very small margin of legitimate gain — the steady
customers and the Turks know that this means
one price only and do not begrudge them their
small profits or try to beat them down by bar-
gaining— the other standard is the one they apply
in their dealings with foreigners or with a casual
client, it consists in asking for a much larger
profit, leaving enough margin to indulge in bar-
gaining. I must also add in the defense of the
small Turkish dealer that he is obliged to have
recourse to this second standard especially in
dealing with foreigners, purely and simply in
self-defense. I have still to find a foreigner who
will step into a shop in Turkey and pay without
haggling over the price first asked by the mer-
chant. This is always a source of wonderment
to me as very often the foreigner who begrudges
a paltry ten per cent profit to the Turkish mer-
chant is the same one who pays without the slight-
est protest twenty-five or fifty per cent profit in
his own town to a retailer who has had the good
sense to advertise himself as having only one
price for his goods.

Anyhow, in Stamboul we never have to com-
plain of the manner in which we are treated
by our suppliers, and when we deal with them we
feel that we have an individuality of our own and

104 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

are not just a name or a number which has to be
served. We are friends who have to be pleased.
That is one of the reasons why we love Stamboul
so much, and why Stamboul is loved by all who
have lived there. One becomes identified with the
quarter one lives in, one becomes part of it, one
gets to know and to be known at least by sight
by every one who lives in the same quarter: the
policemen on the beat, the night watchman, the
storekeepers, the neighbours — all know each other
and take a personal interest in helping each other.
There is a spirit of friendship, an "esprit de corps"
among all members of the same community.

The community in which we live is possibly
exceptional in one respect and that is that it is
the center not only of Government circles, but also
of publicists and doctors. Stamboul even in its
living quarters is very markedly divided into sec-
tions where people of a certain trade, a certain
education or of a certain walk in life live in com-
munities distinct from each other. Ours is an
intellectual community, all the big doctors, physi-
cians and surgeons and all the writers, publicists
and newspapermen live here, while the people of
the Government come every day to the Sublime
Porte opposite our house. The result is that after
a short while we have a circle of neighbours and
friends who make it a practise to drop in in-
formally once in a while to visit with us. There
are no official visitors, but friends who come in to

STAMBOUL 105

pass away the time in case you have nothing bet-
ter to do. And the informality is such that they
do not feel hurt if you cannot receive them. If
by any chance you have some formal party going
on, they themselves do not desire to stay. So it is
perfectly charming and agreeable. So much the
more since these people are all interesting people:
men and women who know things and who
are doing things and who shun small talk or
gossip. It is a remarkable thing how little gos-
sip there is in these cliques of Stamboul. And
this is a relief and a great difference from
the cliques of Pera. True, the people here are
not social people in the foreign sense of the word:
they are people who do things and who desire to
exchange ideas, constructive and profitable ideas.
They generally come in late in the afternoon,
when the Sublime Porte is closing. They have to
pass before our house, and every once in a while
some one of our friends stops in at tea time.
After dinner we receive the visits of our immedi-
ate neighbours, doctors and publicists, if we have
nothing else to do or if we do not ourselves call
on some neighbours. Of course these calls are
not an every-day occurrence, they happen about
two or three times a week and help to pass the
time in a most pleasant way, as we have on our
list of steady callers people interested in different
lines, philosophic and religious thoughts as well
as scientific and political thoughts.

106 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

So we are now finally settled and are leading a
very quiet, interesting life, right in the midst of
our Stamboul, right among the Turks; not any
more the Stamboul and the Turks of Pierre Loti
or of Claude Farrere, but a Stamboul which has
suffered and is suffering much, a Stamboul which
is thinking and feeling deeply, and among Turks
who are passing through a transition period of
passive development — chrysalises of the Near East
which may soon develop into sturdy butterflies
with large wings and whose one ambition is to
carry their race, their country and their associates
as high as the ideals towards which their construc-
tive imagination is now soaring.

VII
BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE

VfOW that we have a house which we can call
our home we are able to lead an organised
life. Our daily routine varies little but it certainly
is a relief to settle down and take things easily
after having lived like gypsies for so many months.
I go to my office every morning — everybody works
or at least tries to work now in Constantinople.
I had good luck in finding proper quarters for
the office at a short distance from home so that
it does not take more than ten minutes' walk to
go to work and I can come back every day to
lunch. In the mornings my wife is busy with
the thousand and one duties so easily devised by
any woman who takes a real interest in her home
and when I come to lunch by noon everything is
ready for a quiet meal "en tete-a-tete," followed
by twenty minutes or half an hour of restful con-
versation. It is so nice to cut the day with a
short recreation of this kind, well earned by both
of us. It makes one more alive for the work of
the afternoon. And for the sake of having this
short recreation we very seldom ask any one to
lunch. However, ours is a Turkish house and it

always remains open to guests, and we are ready

107

108 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

to entertain any one who drops in to share our
meal. This is the custom, but every one is brought
up not to take undue advantage of the privilege,
so friends or relations do not drop in at lunch
time more often than once in a great while.

When I again leave my wife for the office in the
afternoon she generally sees some friends or goes
out shopping, but she is always at home when I
return in the evenings at half-past five or six. We
work rather late in the offices here.

Business life in Constantinople is a rather exact-
ing thing nowadays. It is unquestionably most in-
teresting, but there is such competition, such a
scramble for work that one has to hustle to hold
one's own. Unfortunately we live in a century of
commercialism and trade, and no matter where one
is one has to take an active part in the universal
struggle for life. The unfortunates who have to
earn a living are the actors in this struggle and
have to devote their days, their years, their whole
life to business, no matter if they are in America
or in England, in Italy or in France, in Turkey
or in China. In some countries many go in busi-
ness for a pastime. But in others — as in Turkey
— most of those who are in business have entered
it only because they had to. They would much
prefer, if they could afford it, to pass their time
in the pursuit of some more elevating and morally
profitable occupation. Dire necessity has com-
pelled practically every one now in business in Tur-

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE 109

key to take it up, men, women and children. I do
not think that deep in their hearts the Turks really
relish this, but they have a sort of a feeling that as
long as everybody else is doing it, as long as this
is a century where only material progress counts,
as long as there is an urgent necessity to earn
money, well they have to try to make the best
of it. They have come to this conclusion only in
recent years, and I believe that this is the only
real good that the war has done to Turkey and
the Turks. When I left Constantinople for Amer-
ica, ten or twelve years ago, there were very few
Turks in business. Commerce, finance and indus-
try was, and had been for centuries, the exclusive
realm of the non-Turkish elements of the empire.
Perhaps this explains the reason why Turkey and
the Near East did not enjoy a very good busi-
ness reputation in foreign countries — a handicap
which it will take some time still to overcome. It
will require years and years before foreign busi-
ness men will realize that trustworthy and reliable
people can be found in Turkey to deal with, now
that the Turks are in business — just as it required
years and years for the Chinamen to change the
opinion of foreigners on the risks of Chinese
business. Most traders who knew about the un-
satisfactory results obtained in the past in Chinese
trade were prejudiced against Chinese business
without realizing that they had dealt through
Japanese or half-bred Far Eastern firms. When

no SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

the Chinese entered personally into international
business the foreigners gradually lost their preju-
dice but it took some time.

The fact that the Turks have not entered into
business until comparatively recently is not at all
due to laziness or indolence. It is rather due to
two distinct causes which must be mentioned here
to render full justice to the Turkish race. The
first is a moral cause. The religion, the education
and the Asiatic origin of the Turks have led
them to look upon life more like a road that should
be used to reach spiritual attainments than like
an opportunity to obtain material gains. Spiritual
attainments are eternal — those who accumulate
them in this life continue their progress in the
other with a useful capital and with assets that
really count. Material gains are perishable and
those who accumulate them in this life cannot
take them into the other. Why should I therefore
use my time and energy to accumulate things
that will be useful to me only during this life
which, after all, is only an infinitesimal part of
my eternal existence. Accustomed to think and
to reason thus the Turks have become a race
indifferent to material gains and ambitious only for
spiritual gains, and they have naturally enough
disdained business. In fact, they have for cen-
turies looked down upon commerce and finance
and have purposely avoided competing in these
activities with the less spiritual but far more

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE in

materialistic non-Turkish elements of the Near
East.

The second cause is political or historical. At
the time of the conquest of Constantinople nearly
six centuries ago, and when for the first time
Turkey acquired — to her misfortune — a large non-
Turkish population, Sultan Mehemet IV. desired
to give a proof of his magnanimity and, in a spirit
of justice, not only recognised the entire freedom
of religion of the newly subjected non-Turkish
races, but even exempted them from all duties
towards the state. The non-Turkish elements were
only called upon to pay a yearly tribute to the
Empire and outside of this were left entirely free
to look after themselves. When it is realized that
these religious and political privileges were gra-
ciously granted by the Turks to conquered races
generations before the Spanish Inquisition — when
the Christian conquerors of Spain tried to impose
Christianity on the conquered Arabs and Hebrews
through hair-raising tortures — and centuries be-
fore the religious wars of Europe — when Catholic
and Protestant majorities tried to impose their in-
dividual dogma upon each other through massa-
cres and torture without considering racial or
even family ties — the broadmindedness and justice
of the Turkish conquerors becomes apparent. Be
it also said incidentally that when it is realized
that these political and religious privileges granted
by the Turks in 1453 have survived nearly five

ii2 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

long centuries, the stories of all these Christian per-
secutions will be somewhat discredited and will be
considered at least as greatly exaggerated as the
news of the death of Mark Twain.

Be that as it may, the fact is that the granting
of these privileges placed on the shoulders of the
Turks the heavy burden of all military and gov-
ernmental duties while the non-Turkish elements
went through centuries free from any obligation.
Of course they were free to participate in the
governmental civil service if they chose to do
so, but their sense of allegiance to the country
was not strong enough and their greediness was
too strong to induce them to undertake duties to
which they were not forced. Rather than to
take care of the common wealth of the nation they
preferred to take care of their own individual
wealth. And as commerce, finance and industry
developed through the centuries the non-Turkish
elements of the country obtained a solid economic
grip and used it in their endeavours to choke the
Turks.

The democratic revolution of 1908 started the
economic awakening of the Turks. The govern-
mental reorganisation which took place at that
time threw on their own resources many Turkish
families who had until then depended for their
living on salaries earned by their members as
government employees. To support their family

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE 113

these people had to go into business. Later the
various wars of Turkey, involving losses of vast
territories, necessitated further curtailment in the
number of civilian and military employees of the
Government. This further increased the Turkish
participation in the business life of the country.
Finally the general war which resulted in tre-
mendous territorial losses for Turkey as well as in
the complete emancipation of women brought
about a very forceful nationalistic awakening in
all forms of activity. The slogan "Turkey for
the Turks" invaded general business and gave
such a tremendous impetus to the Turks that
it was a very great surprise to me — and a very
gratifying one — to witness at my return the ex-
tent to which my people have succeeded in ob-
taining a foothold in the business life of the
country. The great majority of the Turks are
now in business, men and women. In all the
shops and offices of Stamboul, in quite a few stores
and offices of Pera and Galata you see Turkish
girls at work behind counters or at desks, some
working on big ledgers, others pounding on type-
writers. All the Turkish working-girls dress very
simply in demure little black frocks, their hair
covered with the becoming "charshaf" with a
thin veil rakishly thrown over it. It gives to
their faces a soft, dark frame from under which a
few mischievous blonde or hlack locks openly
laugh at the old customs.

ii4 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Of course there are many more Turkish men
than women in business. Many Turkish trading
firms have been formed, many Turkish factories
are now operating and there are even quite a
few small Turkish banks. All these firms employ
Turks almost exclusively. Thus gradually the
Turks are reclaiming the business of their own
country from those who have had it for centuries
and as the Turks are really the only stable and
reliable element of the Near East they will surely
obtain finally the lead in Near Eastern business
matters. The process will be slow as the competi-
tion the Turks have to contend with is extremely
strong and very often not fair. But their business
ability should not be gauged by the time they will
require to take a preponderant position in Near
Eastern business. They have as rivals Jews,
Armenians and Greeks who have the benefit of
many centuries of experience plus old established
organizations. An old saying states that it takes
one Jew to fool two Christians, one Armenian
to fool two Jews and one Greek to fool two
Armenians. The non-Turkish conception of good
business in the Orient is principally to fool those
one is dealing with. And Greeks, Armenians and
Jews are now more than ever trying to "dear'
with the Turks!

The principal Turkish* business center is, of
course, in Stamboul and the location of my office
gives me the double advantage of being near my

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE 115

home and among my own people. My office is
right at the foot of the hill of the Sublime Porte.
It is near the station and almost on the water
front. Big transit warehouses for merchandise
to be transshipped to and from Black Sea ports
are just opposite our building, but as the ware-
houses are low they do not impair in any way the
view I have from my windows. In fact the view is
so gorgeous and so little inducive to work that I
have turned my desk so that I have the window
and the view at my back. I believe that with such
a view as the one we have in Constantinople and
with the climate we enjoy, business here will never
reach the intensiveness of business in London or
in New York, despite the fact that geographically
speaking Constantinople commands a more im-
portant economic position than any other city in
the world being as it is astride two continents.
While the atmosphere of New York is so full of
electricity that one is forced to be on the go prac-
tically all the time, and while the fog of London
makes it almost a physical pleasure to remain
at work within the four walls of a cosy office,
the climate of Constantinople relaxes one's nerves
and its gorgeous scenery, its beautiful Oriental
sky have an irresistible, softening appeal, calling
to the outdoors, to repose or to contemplation, ac-
cording to one's individual temperament. Al-
though it does not make people lazy, it renders
them somewhat easy-going. They do not, they can-

n6 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

not struggle with as much intensiveness as in New
York or in London.

From the windows of my office I can see part of
the famous Galata Bridge, where more races and
nationalities intermingle with each other than any-
where else in the world. I dare say that there is not
a single nationality of Europe which has not at least
one member cross this bridge every day. Ameri-
cans, Africans and Asiatics are also represented
here. Since the armistice Great Britain has added
to this collection Australians and New Zealanders.
Hindoos in native costumes or in British uniforms,
Cossacks, Kalmuks and Tartars of the Russian
steppes, Arabs with long, flowing robes rub elbows
with Turco-mans, Chinamen, Japanese and Anna-
mites, while the local crowd of Turks, Armenians,
Albanians, Greeks and Slavs of different nation-
alities go their way in an incessant stream. Flocks
of sheep and herds of cattle freshly landed from
the Balkan countries pass over the bridge among
electric street cars, carriages, sedan-chairs, cara-
vans of camels and automobiles: Rolls-Royces,
Fiats, Mercedes and Fords. Thickly veiled Arab
women, bloomered Gypsy, Armenian and Greek
women, fat Jewesses covered with gold pieces and
their more modern progeny — Rebeccas with sleepy
black eyes — critically view each other under the
amused gaze of passing British ladies, American
tourists, Russian princesses and gracefully slim
Turkish ladies flaunting their emancipation to

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE 117

the astonished gaze of foreigners, while Parisian
cocottes and a few of their less refined local col-
leagues cross the bridge joy-riding in the military
automobiles of their lovers who have occupied
Constantinople "in the name of civilization."

This continuous movement on the bridge is only
equalled by the movement in the harbour which
I can also see from the windows of my office.
Small steamers serving the commuters of the Bos-
phorus and of the Islands, large cargo boats and
passenger steamers, schooners, yachts, warships
and even big transatlantics seem to be moving
perpetually in and out of this congested harbour
bringing to it their individual load of wares, mer-
chandise and passengers from the farthest cor-
ners of the globe. Right in front of my windows
the two old continents — the cradles of the most
ancient civilizations — meet and become one under
the clear, peaceful blue sky of the East.

It is this very diversity of things that renders
Constantinople and especially business in Con-
stantinople so interesting and captivating that I
don't know of any one who, having tasted its
romance, does not feel tied and bound forever to
the place. It is not only that one deals with all
the nations of the world but — which is far more
interesting — one is in personal and daily touch
with all of them : a business day in Constantinople
is really captivating and edifying. Even in such
a comparatively small office as ours it offers a

n8 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

degree of diversity and of unexpected happenings
which is totally different from the usual routine
and humdrum life of offices in other parts of
the world.

From nine o'clock in the morning to the closing
of business my office is the scene of an interna-
tional procession and of unexpected events, some
of which are comic and others tragic; but all
instructive. It starts with the daily interview with
our brokers, Jews, Armenians, Greeks and Turks.
As merchants of all these nationalities are estab-
lished in the market one is obliged to employ an
international crowd of brokers. They are all,
except the Turks, cut on the same pattern. Courte-
ous and polite — but not any longer "sleek" or
"unctuous" like the Oriental merchants of the old
school — they want to impress you with their good-
heartedness and their joviality. They want you to
believe that they have no secrets from you and
that their motive in working for you is solely
the academic interest they take in your success.
They are ready to swear that they do not want to
make any profit and that they will sacrifice their
commission to put a deal through for you. This
display of good will and good intentions lasts gen-
erally up to the time that the deal is "almost"
through; then at the psychological moment the
broker makes a desperate attempt to obtain an addi-
tional commission on the grounds that he has been
obliged — in your interest — to divide his regular

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE 119

commission entirely among certain people whose
influence alone has brought it to the point of com-
pletion. Of course all this haggling is part of the
game and at times it is quite amusing to see the
extent to which a man who believes himself astute
can make a fool of himself. However, I must
say that when one knows them well these men can
be handled easily and if after a few trials they
see that they cannot fool you they respect you
the more for it — and try again only on very rare
occasions when they think you are off your guard.
The Turkish brokers are of a totally different
type. Some are well educated, refined men,
former government officials who are newly in
business and hope to work their way up to becom-
ing sooner or later full-fledged merchants. They
are learning the business while they give you
the benefit of their often very extended connec-
tions. But they are aware of their lack of ex-
perience and expect you to coach them. Generally
you have to give them accurate and detailed
instructions which you can, as a rule, depend on
their following conscientiously Others are — at
least in appearance — good old peasants of Ana-
tolia, often wearing baggy trousers and turbans.
They do not at first impress you as able brokers
or salesmen, but try them out and see; they
may know how to read only just enough to
decipher laboriously the specifications of the goods
they sell, they may know how to write only just

120 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

enough to sign their names, but they can and they
do make mentally the most complicated calculation
of discounts, percentages or commissions, they
can and do book orders and clients. They are
usually the most honest type of brokers in Constan-
tinople. Many Turkish merchants also belong to
this class and many of them who at first impressed
me as being paupers turned out to have more
money than any one else in the market. They are
thrifty, active, intelligent and honest peasants.

Of course the interviews with brokers are just
as much part of the office routine as answering
cables and letters and going over current busi-
ness. I try to dispose of all these matters in the
mornings so that when I come back after lunch,
rested and fresh, I can devote the greater part of
my afternoon to new propositions. And this is the
really interesting part of the day, as propo-
sitions of the most diversified nature abound now
in Constantinople. One comes in touch with the
most extraordinary, interesting and at times pa-
thetic people with unusual business offers. Every-
body has something to sell, everybody is in quest
of business. Thousands and thousands of refugees
of all kinds are here and all of them, as well as
the usual inhabitants of Constantinople, have to
earn their bread.

The most unusual propositions are generally
engineered by the Russian refugees. Many of
these are spendthrifts who prefer to earn their

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE 121

living in an easy manner, either through gambling
or through managing amusement places, restau-
rants, dancing clubs, theaters, etc. A group of
titled Russian refugees headed by a former cham-
berlain of the late Tsar succeeded in starting a
large establishment which provided all imaginable
amusements, not barring roulette, and their en-
terprise was so successful that within two or
three months after it started they were able to
pay back with substantial profits the money they
had borrowed to launch it. After this they be-
came intoxicated with their success and consider-
ing their enterprise as a mint, proceeded to
spend its nightly earnings as rapidly as they were
won. They disposed of their profits at their own
gambling tables, they lavishly entertained their
friends and guests by consuming indiscriminately
their own stocks of wines and food, and naturally
within another couple of months they were obliged
to close their doors. But many other amusement
places flourish still in Pera under the management
of Russians, who are most ingenious in this kind
of enterprise. A former officer of the Russian
army once came to us and asked us to finance a
scheme which would have made a second Monte
Carlo of Constantinople. As we did not care to
enter into this kind of business we lost sight of him
for quite a long period. He came back one day,
however, and told us that his scheme having
fallen through he and his family had been so

122 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

near starvation that they had just about decided
to commit suicide collectively when it occurred
to him to commercialize the hobby he had in his
days of prosperity, namely, cabinet and furniture
making. He had offered his services for this
purpose to a new restaurant which had immedi-
ately commissioned him. His wife, a former lady
in waiting of the Tzarina, had become a cook
in this restaurant and their daughter, a child of
about fifteen, , had had the good luck to find a
position as lady's maid with some well-to-do for-
eigners. Thus the family had been saved from
starvation and the former officer is now one of the
most successful furniture makers of Constanti-
nople. He had heard that we were enlarging our
offices and wanted to figure on the new furniture
we needed. Needless to say that he got the order.
Some Russians have, of course, regular business
propositions like the man who undertook — and
succeeded — in exchanging for the account of some
friends of mine, jewels, petroleum and caviar
from Caucasia for American flour and condensed
milk, a transaction which brought very substantial
profits to himself and to my friends. Others,
however, have propositions which are businesslike
or practicable only to their unaccustomed eyes.
Some come just with an idea and expect you to
jump at it and give them a substantial participa-
tion, like an old Russian admiral who came once
to us suggesting that we should purchase one of

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE 123

the cargo boats of the Russian Volunteer fleet
which was to be sold at auction next week for
the payment of debts. He believed that by making
an offer before the public auction the boat could
be purchased at a bargain price. The poor old
admiral was very much disappointed when it was
explained to him that the creditors — British and
Greek firms — were the ones who forced the sale
and would be satisfied only by the highest price
obtainable as their claims exceeded by far the mar-
ket value of the ship. He had counted on the in-
fluence he still had with Russian circles to accom-
plish this transaction. He had counted on this to
keep his body and soul together. His clothes were
shabby and his shoes were patched.

One could not help feeling sorry for him, but the
most pathetic of all are the women. One day an
old Russian princess was ushered into my office.
Her name was familiar to me as having been the
hostess in the years gone by in her stupendous
estate in Crimea of an uncle of mine on a special
mission of the Sultan to the Tsar who was then
summering at Yalta. My uncle had told us the
lavish manner in which this princess had enter-
tained the Turkish mission. Her residence was
a palace filled with precious antique furniture and
works of art. Her meals were served on solid
gold plates incrusted with diamonds, rubies and
other precious stones. She had thousands of
peasants on her estate. Now she was coming to

124 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

ask my assistance to sell her rights to some oil
fields she had in Caucasia. She was willing to
sell them for a song — the rights to these oil fields
whose annual income had been in the past equal to
a king's ransom. I had to explain to her that as
the Bolsheviks did not recognize the rights of
private property, especially property belonging
to the former Russian nobility, I was afraid that
it would be impossible to find a buyer for her.
The poor lady was disappointed, but she confided
to me that she had received similar answers from
other business men. She therefore wanted to make
me another proposition. When she had fled from
Crimea she had hidden her most precious jewels
in a place where she knew the Bolsheviks would
never think to search for them. She was now
ready to tell exactly where these jewels were and
to divide them with anyone who would recover
them for her. When I told her that the insur-
mountable difficulties of getting her jewels out
of the country while the Bolsheviks were still
there made her proposition impracticable, the poor
old lady, making a superhuman effort not to break
down at this, possibly the hundredth, refusal of
her "business" proposition, asked me if I knew
any one who would care to take French lessons.
Happily my wife wanted to take up French and
I was able to help her.

Russians are not the only ones who scramble
for business. Hundreds of transactions are pro-

BUSINESS IN CONSTANTINOPLE 125

posed by and handled through people of a hun-
dred different nationalities, and the characteristics
of each individual nation govern the negotiations
in each transaction. With so many diversified
propositions and with the different style of nego-
tiations they each require, it really is a fortunate
thing that the religions of the different races
of the Near East crowd the calendar with many
diversified holidays. Otherwise few business
men would be able to stand the strain. As
it is, the quantity of holidays which are kept
by the business community of Constantinople
affords a welcome relief. First of all there are
the weekly Sabbaths. Turkish business houses
keep their Sabbath on Fridays which is the Sun-
day of the Muslims. While they generally do
not close altogether, business is always very slack
for them on Fridays. In my office where we
are all Turks and Muslims, and we are eight in
all, we take our Friday turns in rotation so that
on these days there are only two of us at the office.
The Jews and the Christians, of course, maintain
their Sabbath respectively on Saturdays and Sun-
days so that business is also slack on these days.
Other holidays occur quite often on account of the
great diversity of religions and nationalities. All
these compensate for the strain of normal business
days which, while not being as intensive as in some
of the great western business centers is neverthe-
less very exhausting on account of the variety of

126 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

business treated and of the complexity of the
transactions. One has to satisfy the requirements
of buyers and sellers who do not speak the same
business language, whose conceptions, ideas and
mentality are totally different and whose methods
are diametrically opposed. One has, therefore,
to think and engineer all kinds of combinations to
overcome all the difficulties, and I know by experi-
ence that it is not always an easy task.

At the close of the business day, when I climb
the hill leading to our house, I am generally tired
and mentally exhausted and the prospect of a quiet
evening at home is certainly a relief.

VIII
A STAMBOUL NIGHT

GENERALLY leave my office at about five-
thirty or six o'clock. On my way home I meet
the crowd going to the bridge, the commuters
who have to catch their boat as well as business
people and government employees who live in
Nishan-Tashe or Shishli, on the other side of the
Golden Horn. It is the rush hour of Constanti-
nople. Every one is going home. The small
stores on the avenue, mostly stationery stores and
bookstores, are pulling down corrugated iron
shutters over their doors. Every few minutes a
grinding metallic noise indicates that another
storekeeper is starting home. I buy my daily pro-
vision of cigarettes from the Persian tobacconist
around the corner. I know he is a Persian, al-
though he wears the Turkish fez, from his hen-
naed beard trimmed in a semi-circle and from the
long frock coat he wears. Little Turkish news-
boys shout the headings of the last sensational
news in the evening papers. I always buy one
and if I do not have the proper change the news-
boy digs into his fez. They carry their change
on their heads and the much worn squares of

127

128 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

paper money are the more greasy for it. I cross
the street-car tracks congested with cars wherein
human cattle is packed as tightly as in a New
York subway. People are streaming down the hill
in groups of three or four, clerks from the Sub-
lime Porte looking prosperous and smart despite
the fact that their salary which is anyhow barely
enough to support them, is paid to them every
two or three months. They go hungry and live in
the cheapest possible quarters but try to look well,
these poor Turkish Government employees, in an
endeavour to save appearances and to keep up
their dignity in the eyes of the foreigners. They
walk leisurely and stop to greet each other. They
talk politics. I know quite a few of them and every
once in a while we exchange "temenahs," the
graceful Turkish salutation. Quite a few go up
the hill; Turkish business men and working girls
living in Stamboul like myself.

It is twilight. Overhead little puffs of pink
cloud reflect the last rays of the setting sun,
while one by one lights are turned on in the win-
dows of surrounding buildings, indicating the
homecoming of some toiler. The crowd in the
street is thinning. I reach our house as the auto-
mobiles of the Ministers, who now meet in daily
council at the Sublime Porte, pass through the
gates of the Government Palace. They work
late, they are the last ones to leave.

My wife is waiting for me. Unless we have

A STAMBOUL NIGHT 129

previously arranged to meet somewhere else, she
is always at home to greet me at my return. It
is not proper for ladies to be alone in the streets
of Constantinople after sunset, and we both like
to start the evening together. We tell each other
what we have done in the afternoon, we read the
evening papers and then we sit down to dinner.
We have our evening meal early : everybody dines
early in Stamboul. When we are alone we have
dinner served in the drawing-room, on an old
Italian carved wood table. It is less formal and
cosier. When dinner is finished the servants
clear the table. My wife sits on the couch with
her sewing, I sit next to her in an easy chair.
We talk. It is peaceful and quiet. We feel our
nerves gradually relaxing from the strain of the
day.

It is now evening. The dusk has fallen over
Stamboul. Above, the purple sky is getting darKer
and one by one the stars are lighting in the firma-
ment. Only one of our big windows is opened as
it is quite cool outside. From behind the lattices
we see the breeze gently swaying the branches of
the plane trees bordering our street. Through the
cleft of a dark, narrow street which winds its way
to the nearby sea we can see the lights of some
ships lying in the harbour. Just opposite us the
rambling building of the Sublime Porte is silent
and dark, the Government Departments are all
closed. In the street below only a few belated

130 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

passers-by are hurrying home. At a distance the
Mosque of Santa Sophia raises its minarets high
against the starlit vault of Heaven, as in prayer,
and the park of the Old Seraglio projects the
black silhouettes of its trees: oaks and cypresses
which have witnessed the splendours of the reign
of Soliman the Magnificent. In the branches of a
nearby plane tree a flock of doves flutter and set-
tle for the coming night.

A calm oriental night is falling over the city.
The darkness deepens and the quiet increases.
I look out from the window. In the streets, a
water seller is walking slowly, I can see dimly a
graceful brass vessel swinging from his shoulders.
He stops before the house, and in a plaintive vel-
vety voice chants the merits of his cool water "as
sweet as frozen sherbet" — then goes on his way
and disappears in the blue night. At a distance
we hear the watchman coming, knocking his club
on the pavement to mark the hour "toe — toe — toe
— toe . . ." He is coming nearer, his beat
takes him through our street. Now he stops: the
street is so quiet that we can hear him greeting
someone: "Selam' u aleykum — peace be with
you . » . " The newcomer tells him something.
Then, in the silence, the man who watches after
night over the safety of all raises his voice in a
long-drawn note of warning: "YVa'an gun
vaaar I" He has been notified that there is a fire
and he notifies all of the danger. Most of us live

A STAMBOUL NIGHT 131

in frame houses here in Stamboul and a fire is
dangerous. Time and again thousands of houses
have disappeared in a single night, thousands of
people have remained homeless. If the fire is near
we must all gather our belongings. My wife is
anxious. She comes to the window: let us find
out where the fire is, the watchman will tell us. He
is now quite near, he beats his club almost on our
doorstep. "Y'a'a'an gun Vaaar — Mahmoud Pash-
ada." It is not so bad, Mahmoud Pasha is the
name of a quarter, a wholesale business district
where no one lives — so the losers will be the in-
surance companies who charge such high pre-
miums that they can afford to lose. It is quite far
from us although from the windows at the back
of our house we can see a red glow behind the
mosque of Yeni Djami: it makes its cupola shine
and its minarets throw fantastic shadows over the
neighbouring buildings. But the conflagration is
small and the wind is not strong to-night, so it will
be soon under control. Let us return to the sit-
ting-room.

The watchman continues his round. His voice
is now dying out in the distance. Everything is
quiet again. The night has fallen. It is the hour
of relaxation. We might receive the visit of some
friends. One can better exchange ideas in the calm
of the night, and people in Stamboul are now too
poor to indulge in regular social life but they love
to call on each other in after-dinner impromptu

132 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

visits. They leave the more elaborate kind of en-
tertainments to their more wealthy cousins living
on the slopes of the hills above Pera, in Shishli
or Nishantashe. Here we are satisfied with sim-
ple, unpretentious visits; they help pass away the
time in a far more interesting and morally pro-
ductive manner than the dancing and exchange
of platitude usual in large social gatherings.

Let us light the candles and turn out the electric
light. The soft, golden glow of candles is more
restful, and conducive to deeper thought. It is
in harmony with the darkness outside and will at-
tune us to the relaxation of nature at night. I
love semi-darkness. I will only light the silver can-
delabra on the table and this funny old lantern
hanging here at the corner. Its silent shadow will
talk to us of the past, when its pale light was used
to illumine the steps of those who ventured in the
streets after sunset. Even I can remember the
time when the streets of Stamboul were not
lighted. Electricity is a very recent innovation
and in my childhood there were so few and such
feeble oil lamps in the streets that every one who
went out at night was accompanied by a servant
who carried a lantern like this, a folding lantern
with a round chiselled silver bottom and a round
chiselled silver top, its sides made of oiled parch-
ment or goatskin pleated horizontally so that it
could fold when not in use. The servant would
walk just a few steps before you, holding the Ian-

A STAMBOUL NIGHT 133

tern low on the ground so that its dim light
would illumine your steps. It was an event for
me to go out after sunset and the few occasions
when I did have remained engraved in my mem-
ory as great adventures, somewhat terrifying
and most exciting. I remember how I used to
hang on to the hand of my mother. I was
abashed by the darkness surrounding us, by the
mystery of the night and its solitude. I remem-
ber how I would strain my ears to hear the famil-
iar rustle of my mother's wide silk skirt, how I
would ask her any question that came into my
mind just for the sake of hearing her musical soft
voice coming from the darkness above, in mod-
ulated tones, I remember how fascinated I
would be by the yellowish dancing light of the
swinging lantern, which would project big sha-
dows all around us. And when one of the street
dogs, so common at that time, would wake up and
run away from our path, I would squeeze my
mother's hand and nestle nearer to her so that I
could feel her silk dress against my cheek.

And now this lantern hangs in our drawing-
room, not any more for a useful purpose in this
age of electricity, but as an artistic ornament, a
symbol of the past, a symbol of the darkness of
bygone years. Its yellowish glow illumines the
head of my wife who sits right under it. It sur-
rounds her hair with a halo of ancient light. The
cycle of thoughts continues, running after the

134 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

cycle of time in a sequence of flashes followed by
long periods of darkness!

We are silent. The street outside must be al-
most deserted, I can only hear occasional steps
every once in a while. But something now stirs
at our front door. Someone knocks. It might be
some friends, it might be a poor man, a widow or
an orphan who comes to ask for some help or for
something to eat. Ours is a Turkish home and no
matter who comes the Turks welcome an oppor-
tunity to be hospitable or charitable. No matter
how hard the times, there is always something for
the guests.

It must be guests as they are coming up the
stairs. The voices stop at our door. The ser-
vant announces our neighbours, Dr. Assim Pasha
and his wife with our mutual friend, Djevad Bey.
They are welcome, the night is still very young
and they are all very interesting people. Djevad
is a newspaper man, he might have some interest-
ing news to impart. The doctor is one of the lead-
ing surgeons of the age known not only here but
even in France and Germany where he completed
his studies. He is a scientist and more: he is a
thinker, a philosopher, a man who knows human
beings and humanity intimately. His wife is one
of the modern Turkish women who do real things.
She speaks English fluently so she has grown to
be a very good friend of my wife despite the dif-
ference in their age. She has a daughter who is

A STAMBOUL NIGHT 135

now studying surgery in Germany. They are all
quiet, nice people, they exactly fit our mood to-
night, they materialize the deep, calm atmosphere
of a Stamboul night. We need not turn on the
lights.

We sit around, sip our coffee and smoke. Ma-
dame Assim Pasha is on the sofa next to my wife.
She tells her of her day. She is always engaged
on some errand of mercy, helping the Turkish
refugees. Thousands and thousands of them, es-
caped from the horrors of the Greek invasion of
Western Anatolia, are now in Constantinople,
homeless, without clothes and in want. All the
foreigners in Constantinople, all the foreign papers
abroad think, talk and assist only Russian, Greeks,
Armenians and others who are now crowding
this poor city of Constantinople which the ar-
mistice and the unnatural Treaty of Sevres have
made the dumping-ground of all those in need,
but no one gives a thought to the Turkish refugees
except the Turks. They are horded in Mosques
and in public buildings and great misery prevails
among them. They depend entirely upon the mercy
of the Turks of Constantinople who are themselves
too poor to give sufficient help. But we have to
do what we can, we have to share our all with our
hungry brothers and sisters of Western Anatolia
who have come to our city after the Greeks, man-
datories of "civilized'' Europe, had burned their
villages, ransacked their farms and killed their

136 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

cattle. The Turks are too proud to beg for the
assistance of foreigners, and we are all Turks.
So we must multiply our efforts, we must do the
impossible to feed and clothe our refugees, to take
care of their health and to send their children to
school even if we can count only on our own re-
sources. Let the Russians, the Armenians and the
Greeks cry and wail on the sympathetic shoulders
of the foreigners. We will keep our courage up,
and with the help of God we will see our needy
ones through, we will overcome our present trou-
bles as we have overcome all our past troubles!
We do not ask help from any one, we only ask to
be left alone. Why do not the foreigners take in
their own homes their pet children, their cry-
babies, and leave us alone to heal our wounds ? Are
they afraid that the public opinion $n their coun-
tries will — through direct contact — realize too soon
the hypocrisy of their pets? Are they afraid that
their own people might be contaminated with the
political and moral ailments of these foreign refu-
gees? And if so why should they let Constanti-
nople and its people be contaminated by anarchical
ideals and immoral principles? Have they not
occupied Constantinople for the purpose of main-
taining law and order? Is Constantinople now
more lawful than before? Are not the foreign
refugees responsible for the spread of immorality
in Constantinople? And what will happen to Con-
stantinople if all these foreigners, imported

A STAMBOUL NIGHT 137

against their will, remain here and spread their
propaganda of discontent, restlessness and law-
lessness? Madame Assim Pasha talks calmly and
in a subdued tone. She does not argue, she just
states facts. Slowly and masterfully she depicts
the gloomy consequences that the thoughtlessness
of the Western Powers might bring to this city of
misery. The present is dark enough but the fu-
ture will be darker unless the Western Powers find
a remedy to it. The shadows in our room seem
to have darkened, we are silent for a few minutes,
then Djevad Bey speaks.

He has been recently to Anatolia and tells us
that the situation in the regions occupied by the
foreigners is much worse there than here. Stand-
ing at his full height, his slim athletic figure dimly
discernible in the darkness of the room, he quivers
with restrained emotion and tells us of the suffer-
ings he has seen there. He launches a diatribe
against the foreign press which will never tell of
the miseries and injustice suffered by the Turks,
while it will always exaggerate the miseries and
sufferings of all other nations — the foreign press
which will never tell of the qualities and accom-
plishments of the Turks while it will show through
a magnifying glass the accomplishments of other
nations. Will this double standard ever be changed ?
Can the truth be forever distorted? Why this pre-
judice against the Turks ? Will the Western world
ever outgrow it and discard it? Will the World

138 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

ever replace its preconceived hatred for some and
friendship for others by a single feeling of com-
passion for all who suffer, no matter who they may
be, no matter what their race, and by one all-em-
bracing feeling of love for all — will it ever adopt
one single standard of justice for all?

Djevad has once more voiced the inherent com-
plaint of all the Turks who resent the malign
treatment they are subjected to, the campaign of
defamation which they have had to put up with
since the last generation. Under their stoic calm-
ness these questions loom large in the inner-con-
sciousness of all the Turks and cast a deep shadow
of doubt over their faith. In the peace and quiet of
our room we feel that his questions, if unan-
swered, will shatter our confidence in the future,
we feel that the world might yet be plunged in a
terror still worse than that of the years of the
great war if it destroys the faith of the Turks
and throws them in despair into the arms of their
Nihilist neighbours of the North, at the head of
millions of Central Asiatic tribes, at the head of
millions of Muslims now groaning under the heels
of their conquerors: a terror which might be
darker than the blackest periods of the Darkest
Ages.

Instinctively we turn for an answer to the Doc-
tor. He has been silent until now. He sits in
a high-backed chair like a throne. The candelabra
on the table illumines his expressive face and

A STAMBOUL NIGHT 139

throws the outline of his powerful profile in an
enormous shadow on the gray wall. It almost
reaches the ceiling and dominates the darkened
room. The doctor is calm and composed, his
sensitive hands rest limply on the arms of the
chair. His eyes which have studied the past,
stare dreamily ahead in an endeavour to vis-
ualize the future. They gleam with a spiritual
light which pierces the penumbra surrounding him.
He is thinking, he gazes — unseeing — at a little
picture on the wall, a little Dutch picture on which
the artist has, centuries ago, painted the moon
rising from behind dark clouds to illumine with
rays of silver a limitless ocean. He sighs, straight-
ens up, throwing his head slightly back. Then
his colourful, warm voice rises in the silence and
the shadows surrounding us.

A new world is in the making. The old world
had been divided by men into races, religions and
creeds. Each race had different standards, each
race was prejudiced against all others. Each re-
ligion and creed had, in the course of time, ac-
comodated itself to the pettiness of humanity and
had lost sight of its essential principles. The
divine light which time and again God had shed
in His mercy over humanity through one or the
other of his prophets had been captured by nar-
row-minded dogmatists of different races and only
an infinitesimal spark of it had been each time im-
prisoned in a lantern for egotistical purposes in-

i4o SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

stead of being used to illumine the outer world.
Jews, Christians and Muslims turned their own
lanterns on themselves and each one crowded
around it in an endeavour to see its own particular
light. In the scramble that followed and in the
jet black darkness which surrounded each separate
spark, those who struggled forgot what they had
seen in the light. Mercy, compassion and love dis-
appeared from before their eyes. They all called
each other renegades and apostates. The Chris-
tian world, more materialistic than the others, ob-
tained the upper hand and exerted its supremacy
over the globe. But the greediness of its differ-
ent nations, their desire for economic possession
brought about the general war. Even in this, how-
ever, nations were the unconscious tools of the
Divine Power. One must tear down to build anew.
One must punish to improve. Therefore nations
were made to destroy their own material rich-
nesses. And in the meanwhile, unknown to them
the sparks in their lanterns have come ever and
ever nearer to each other. The day is near when
all the lanterns will be united and will illumine
together — as God meant it — the work of recon-
struction undertaken by a new Humanity which
has been made to see through suffering. The
pains of the present time are the pains of travail.
Humanity is being reborn. A new age is in the
making, a better world is coming. It may take
some time to come, but when it arrives it will

A STAMBOUL NIGHT 141

bring justice to all without distinction of class,
colour, nationality or sex. It will usher in real
democracy based not on equality, but on "one-
ness." We are passing now through the period of
preparation, the period of travail. It is painful as
all travail preceding creation, but Humanity must
hope, no matter how hard the present times are,
no matter how long the hard times last. Nothing
can alter its destiny. The millenium will come
when Humanity becomes conscious of God,
becomes one with Him, reflects all His attributes:
and Mercy and Love are the principal attributes
of God. With his eyes cast dreamily ahead, lost
in his vision, the great surgeon who fights death
every day tells us of immortality through love.
Our quiet room vibrates with his subdued
voice — the voice of those who have heard and
understood the wails of agony. Gradually and
with the conviction acquired by generations of
philosophers before him, the thinker is rebuild-
ing our faith. The faith that no true Muslim
must ever lose. The shadows surrounding us are
becoming translucid. We come to share his vision
of a better world: a world based not on the equal-
ity but on the unity of all. We come to share his
conviction that this is the unavoidable period of
travail with its unavoidable pains and sorrows.
We must go through it without complaint, without
despair, fully realizing that we must use all ob-
stacles in the path of humanity as stepping-stones

142 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

and not as stumbling-blocks. And God will keep
His covenant to humanity. We are not fatalists,
but we have faith.

Our talk continues, inspiring and elevating.
How far we are, here in Stamboul, from the mun-
dane life of Pera. Yet it is only a narrow strip
of water which divide us: a strip of water called
by the ancients "Golden Horn," possibly because
of their foreknowledge that it would bring to
Stamboul the soothing treasures of faith and be-
lief.

But all things have an end, and it is getting
late. We drink another cup of coffee, we smoke
a last cigarette, and true to the Turkish custom
we accompany our departing guests to our front
door.

Upstairs in our room we are getting ready for
the night. Full of the elevating talk of the eve-
ning, we silently prepare for sleep, the sleep which
will lead our souls to the giddy heights of uncon-
scious knowledge. Through our window we see
the darkness outside. It is night. Silence reigns
over Stamboul. Calm and composed, the eternal
Turkish City slumbers under its dark sky where
glow large Eastern stars, while Levantines and
foreigners feverishly revel in unhealthy amuse-
ments on the hills of Pera. Let them do what they
want as long as they leave us free to use the night
for its real purpose: meditation, rest and relaxa-
tion !

A STAMBOUL NIGHT 143

It is dark outside. There is only one light in
the small mosque of the Sublime Porte : its tapered
minaret points to the oriental stars above which
silently sparkle away centuries into eternity. Then
the little door on top of the minaret is pushed
open and the muezzin steps out on the ring-like
gallery. It is prayer time. The cloudless sky
echoes the melodious voice of the muezzin. High
above the roofs of the slumbering city he calls the
faithful to prayer:

"Allahi Ekber— Allahi Ekber! God is Great—

"There is no God but God . , ."

His voice is pure as the purest crystal. He
chants the greatness of God and His Unity. He
proclaims in the middle of the night that prayer is
better than sleep and calls the faithful to salvation
through prayer. He gives his message to the
four winds, and retires after having again pro-
claimed the greatness of God and having claimed
for Mahomed only the station of Prophethood.

One by one, silently, the soldiers on guard at
the Sublime Porte and a few neighbours have got-
ten up from sleep and made their way to the
mosque. They make their ablution in the little
courtyard: one must be clean to commune with
God. They enter the mosque and I can see them
through the open door. In unison and as one man
they kneel, they prostrate themselves in adoration
and then they rise and pray : arms extended, palms

144 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

upwards — standing like Christ on the Mount of
Olives. Allahi Ekber! God is Great!

The prayer is finished. Perfect quiet again in
Stamboul. The faithful have returned home. You
can almost hear the world meditating. The mystic
night unfolds its mysteries to the believers asleep.

Complete silence, calm and relaxation. The
Orient is dreaming. At dawn the muezzin will
again call to prayer : "Allahi Ekber."

IX
A NIGHT IN PERA

C INCE our arrival in Constantinople we had
heard of the night life in Pera but we had not
seen it close to. Although we lived — out of neces-
sity— in Pera during the first months of our re-
turn, we very seldom went out. In the Summer
months and in the Fall we were in the country
and since we had settled in Stamboul we loved too
much our own quiet nights at home to seek any-
thing else. But when my friend, Carayanni, sug-
gested showing us Pera at night we decided that
it was almost our duty to take advantage of
this opportunity of seeing it with someone who
knew the place. Since the armistice Pera is so
full of amusement resorts of all kinds that unless
one is guided by an "habitue" one is apt to get
lost in more than one sense of the word.

I think that I have already said that Pera is
now inhabited by almost all the races of Europe
with the exception of the Turks. The Turks have
been forced out of this quarter and are certainly
not keen to reenter it under its present conditions.
Pera shelters all the foreigners in Constantinople,
from the High Commissioners of the different na-

145

146 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

tions and their immediate retinues down to the
worst kind of adventurers. And of course there
are many more adventurers than High Commis-
sioners. Pera shelters most of the Russian refu-
gees, from poor helpless former nobles whose
plight is a real disgrace to civilization down to
the most resourcefully immoral individuals of both
sexes whose behaviour is a real shame to human-
ity. In addition Pera shelters all the Greeks and
Armenians of the city and its narrow, crooked
streets are the playground and dwelling-place
of a nondescript people which, for lack of better
name, people have agreed to call "Levantines/'

The Levantine is the parasite of the Near East.
He has no country, no scruples, no morals, no
honesty of any sort — in business or in private
life. He is the descendant of foreign traders who
have settled in the Near East at some period or
other and have intermingled — not necessarily in-
termarried— with Greeks and Armenians or other
non-Turkish elements of the country. His ances-
tors might have originally come to the Near East
either attracted by the proverbial riches of the
Orient — at a time when the Orient was still rich —
or as runaways from the justice of their own coun-
try— no one knows. As foreigners always had
certain privileges in Turkey the present-day Le-
vantine calls himself a foreigner when he is deal-
ing with the Turks or with Turkish authorities.
However, when he is dealing with foreigners he

A NIGHT IN PERA 147

is very apt to call himself a Turk, an Armenian or
a Greek. Anyhow he never will call himself a
Levantine, so stigmatized is that appellation in the
eyes of all who know the Near East. He generally
has perfected this internationalism to such a de-
gree that he has citizenship papers or passports of
different countries which he uses indiscriminately
according to his wants or the necessity of the
moment. But despite all a Levantine is and re-
mains a Levantine and should be shunned as
such. Anyone who is from the Near East and
calls himself a non-Muslim Turk is a Levantine,
and almost any foreigner who admits that his
family has been living in the Near East for at
least two generations is probably also a Levan-
tine. Anyhow Pera is the hot-bed of Levantines,
who have lost all their original racial qualities and
have assimilated all the racial defects of all the
races living in the Near East — whose one purpose
is to make and spend money and who are ready to
sell anything for the purpose.

My friend Carayanni is not a Levantine. He is
an Ottoman Greek. Just as a Scotchman is a
British subject, so Carayanni is a Greek but a
Turkish — or Ottoman — subject, and is supposed
to be as faithful to Turkey as the Scotchman is
faithful to Great Britain. But in the eyes of the
world Turkey is not Great Britain, and Carayanni
is a Greek and everyone, except the Turks, seem
to consider it quite natural that he should be a

148 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Venizelist. Foreigners call him and the other
Ottoman Greeks like him who are Venizelists
"patriots," and blame the Turks for not loving
them. A Venizelist is a Greek who wants the
downfall and dismemberment of the Ottoman Em-
pire, that is to say that an Ottoman Greek who is
a Venizelist is de juro a rebel, a traitor, who con-
spires for the downfall and dismemberment of the
Government of his own country. When the Turks
take this attitude and try to repress this intes-
tinal strife they are accused of committing "atroci-
ties." When Great Britain or any other Western
Government quells with machine guns and hand-
grenades a similar intestinal strife in their own
country, they are said to make a legal repression
of a rebellious or revolutionary movement. Double
standards again.

The Venizelists want the downfall of the Otto-
man Empire so that Constantinople may become
again a Greek Byzance as it was over five cen-
turies ago. Just because a city originally founded
by the Romans happened to be Greek thirty-nine
years before Columbus discovered America, Cara-
yanni and all the Greeks claim now that it should
again be made Greek. They call themselves Ven-
izelists because they follow the principles of
Venizelos who, although himself an Ottoman
Greek, turned traitor to the country of his birth
and adoption and became the political leader of
Greece in her anti-Turkish policy. The western

A NIGHT IN PERA 149

powers hailed him as the greatest statesman and
diplomat of the century and never give a thought
to his treason or to the weakness of his claims.

But we do not mind the Venizelism of Cara-
yanni. Like most of the higher-class Greeks he
is Venizelist only in words, and he is too well
bred to talk politics when he is with Turks. The
higher-class Greeks are not Venizelists enough
to don the Greek uniform. They know that if they
did don it they might be sent to battle, and battles
against the Turks are not very safe. Why should
they risk their lives, why should they suffer the dis-
comforts of following a military campaign — even
at a safe distance from the front? They know
that by a cunning and insidious propaganda they
can get all the desired support from foreign na-
tions. To obtain the sympathy and the moral
support of certain nations which, like America, are
imbued with the spirit of fair play, some of their
women write sweet articles where the keynote is the
lovableness of the Turks individually, their inno-
cence, their dearness and their romanticism cun-
ningly interwoven with stories — supposed to be
personal experiences — which emphasize in descrip-
tions if not in words, the ignorance of the Turks,
their administrative or business incapacity, how
they still practise slavery and polygamy, and how
they commit political murders and atrocities. The
broadminded but misinformed public believes in
these camouflaged false accusations because of the

150 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

hypocritical profession of love interwoven with
them and gives more than ever its entire sympathy
and moral support to the Greeks. To obtain the
active support of less broadminded nations, to
secure from them all the modern war parapher-
nalia and all the money necessary to equip and
hold under colours, against their will, the lower-
class Greeks who are good enough for "cannon
fodder," the Venizelists lead in some other coun-
tries a bolder, and therefore more commendable
propaganda. In this way they are sure to obtain
the moral and material support they want without
much risk. The upper-class Greeks like to play
safe: the only battles they fight are in their
clubs and around the green table of diplomacy,
and the most deadly weapon they use is their
tongue — which is a pretty deadly weapon at that!
So they continue, day in and day out, to endeavour
to Byzantinize Constantinople and, while happily
they have not succeeded in the whole city, their
efforts have been — for all practical purposes —
crowned with success in Pera. In the old days
Pera was more than half Turkish. To-day scarcely
one out of every fifteen people you see in its
streets is a real Turk. At the armistice all the
non-Turkish elements have been given a free hand
in this part of the city by the Inter-Allied police,
and rather than submit to the arrogance of the
Armenians and to the hostility of the Greek mobs,
rather than witness the general debauche, the

A NIGHT IN PERA 1ST

Turks have withdrawn to Stamboul or to the
heights of Nishantashe. A Turk does not feel
properly protected in Pera. He feels that he
would get little protection from an Inter-Allied
policeman if it came to a litigation with a for-
eigner, and only a very few Turkish policemen
are now employed in Pera where their exclusive
duty is to regulate traffic.

So Pera has become, under the benevolent eye
of its Inter-Allied police, the heaven of Greeks
and Levantines and Carayanni, being a Greek,
lives in Pera and knows it from A to Z. He has
invited us to dinner, and as we know that he will
not talk politics, as we want to see Pera at night,
and as we could not find a better guide for the
purpose, we have accepted his invitation.

One dines very late in Pera and when we start
on our trip of exploration it is already night.
We left home well after eight/ On our way to
meet Carayanni we had to pass through Galata,
which shelters behind its fagade of business re-
spectability sordid back streets patronized by
sailors of the international merchant and military
navies now crowding the harbour. While banks
and office buildings in the main street are closed
at this late hour we have glimpses of side streets
which would make the Barbary Coast of San
Francisco blush with envy. Intoxicated sailors
rock from side to side and disappear in little
streets where organs grind their nasal notes of

152 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

antiquated French, Italian, yes, even American
popular songs and where harsh feminine voices
greet prospective friends in an international ver-
nacular. A foreign sailor, more intoxicated and
more excited than the others, jumps on the run-
ning board of our carriage. It is a good thing
that the top is up, as in the darkness he does not
see that I am a Turk and when I push him and
shout in English for him to get out he obeys with-
out a sound, probably thinking that I am an Eng-
lishman or an American who could get protection
from the police.

My wife is frightened, but the really dangerous
part of our route is nearly over. We are leaving
Galata behind. Our carriage climbs the hill of
Pera and soon we pass before the Pera Palace,
the leading hotel of Constantinople, now owned
by a Greek, where foreign officers and business
men are feted by unscrupulous Levantine adven-
turers and drink and dance with fallen Russian
princesses or with Greek and Armenian girls
whose morals are, to say the least, as light as their
flimsy gowns. Right next to the hotel is the
"Petits Champs,, Garden where soliciting by both
male and female pleasure-seekers is now so ag-
gressively indulged in that not even a self-respect-
ing man dares any more to venture in the place.

The streets are also full of pleasure-seekers,
but at this hour they are not yet as aggressive
as in the Garden. They walk slowly eyeing

A NIGHT IN PERA 153

each other with greedy or inviting glances.
Among them hundreds of Russian refugees, dere-
licts of modern civilization, are drifting sadly, their
emaciated bodies clothed in rags. Maimed men in
old uniforms — on which you can still detect the
insignias of the high ranks they obtained on the
battlefields when they were fighting to make the
world safe for democracy — are now peddling
little wooden toys or artificial flowers which
they try to sell to passers-by. Old women — and
also a few young ones who prefer to be
street vendors rather than street walkers — are
selling candies and newspapers. At one corner a
sad young woman, who will be a mother soon,
holds in her hand a bunch of multi-coloured toy
balloons. She is so tired that she leans against
the wall and can hardly move her hand to offer
her balloons for sale. Huddled on the curb and
in porch-ways, little children shivering from hun-
ger and from cold, are begging or trying to snatch
a few minutes' sleep before the Inter-Allied police
come and tell them to move on. Fourteen or
fifteen-year-old little girls are parading arm in
arm and patently offering their youthfulness in
competition with the experienced knowledge of
their elder sisters. Prostitution, dishonesty, mis-
ery and drunkenness are openly flaunted in this
section of the city which revives all the vices of
Byzance coupled with those of Sodom.

And all this under the very eyes of the Inter-

154 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Allied police who have occupied the city in the
name of civilization and to enforce order and law.
Never before were Pera and Galata as disreputa-
ble as now, never before were they so unsafe, so
objectionable and so badly policed; the Inter-Allied
police professes that it does not care to mix in
matters that have no direct bearing on politics,
and the Turkish police has had its authority com-
pletely taken away in this section of the city.

At last, through this repulsive maze of vice,
we arrive at the Russian restaurant where we are
to meet Carayanni. Pera is now full of Russian
restaurants, where a money-spending international
crowd revels in so-called Bohemian life. Why
not? The walls are artistically painted and the
furniture queer looking enough. Of course, like
most amateur Bohemians, the only thing which
this international crowd has adopted from the
Quartier Latin of Paris is free love. Anyhow,
with the punctuality of a perfect host, Carayanni
is waiting for us. Well groomed and prosperous-
looking in his dapper London-made clothes, he
is trying his best to look and act like an English-
man. His polite nonchalance and his general ap-
pearance are so perfect that, despite his dark com-
plexion, it is hard for me to realize that this
is the same man who, before I left Constantinople
about ten years ago, was making only a very
modest living in gambling and card games in
which he always was an expert. He has changed

A NIGHT IN PERA 155

his business, however, during the war and is now
one of the most successful food speculators in
town.

Carayanni has a special table prepared right
near the center of the room and on our way to the
table he stops to greet the waitresses and to grace-
fully kiss their hands. Most of these girls are
supposed to belong to the Russian nobility, so in
Pera it has become the custom to kiss the hand
that feeds you. We take our seats and glance
about the room. As a whole the place is almost
respectable. The crowd is the usual mixture seen
now at night in Pera: mostly olive-skinned, thick-
lipped, dissipated Armenians and Greeks who can
afford high-priced restaurants, thanks to their
unscrupulous war and post-war profiteering; many
foreigners who can the better afford to spend in
view of the low rate of exchange of the Turkish
money; a few Americans who love to indulge in
foreign countries in pleasures forbidden to them
in their own either by puritanic traditions or by
the eighteenth amendment. The food is excel-
lent; we have a taste of "vodka," the Russian
drink, while at other tables imported and local
wines of rare vintage are consumed copiously.
The professional entertainment provided consists
of an excellent gypsy orchestra, the best I have
heard anywhere, a few singers who sing some
weird Russian songs and an interpretative dancer
who interprets better than she dances. In be-

156 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

tween the professional numbers those who desire
to dance can do so in the middle of the room
which remains cleared for the purpose. After
all, it is the same kind of cabaret restaurant that
one finds in London, Paris or New York, except
that its performers are Russian, its waitresses are
supposed to be princesses and its crowd is a little
more "Bohemian."

Of course Carayanni finds it too slow and as
we are finishing dinner he suggests that we go
to a show. At one theater the Greeks are giving
a performance for the benefit of their refugees
and at another the Turks are giving a perform-
ance for the benefit of their refugees and as our
party to-night is both Turkish and Greek we must
not hurt the feelings of each other by going
to either of these shows. Carayanni suggests
adjourning to a certain "club" which is the rage
pi the moment and where plays and actors are
so — "unreserved," that the public is required
to wear masks. Naturally I object to this sug-
gestion: my wife and I are, so to speak, provin-
cials from Stamboul and our blushes would glow
even through our masks. My wife is so shocked
that Carayanni is sorry to have ever suggested it
and he proposes hastily to go to see Scheherazade
which is played by some of the former actors of the
imperial ballet corps of Petrograd. We all decide
in favour of this and we adjourn to the theater.

The play has already started. Here again there

A NIGHT IN PERA 157

are only a very few Turks in the audience and
their presence seems to me as incongruous as
mine must seem to them. It is queer to see the
place crowded with foreigners when but a few
years ago the crowds in theaters were almost
exclusively Turkish. I remember that one of the
last times I came to this very theater it was to
assist at a gala performance given by the Munici-
pality of Constantinople in honour of the Young
Turkish leaders who had just then so success-
fully accomplished their democratic revolution.
The place was then covered with Turkish flags
and humming with Turkish enthusiasm. To-day
it is almost entirely Russian. Really, the dream
of Peter the Great of making a Russian city of
Constantinople has partly come true, but it has
turned into a nightmare. I whisper this to my
wife and, unknown to Carayanni, we both express
the wish that any one who might nourish the
ambition of taking Constantinople away from
the Turks might share a plight similar to that of
the Russians. It is not generous, I admit it, but
if we were not Turks and formed the same wish
for the enemies of our country, people would call
us patriots.

The performance is pretty good but it drags
on. Scheherazade is a spectacular play and neither
the theater nor its staging are adapted to such
plays. The actors might have been in the Im-
perial Ballet of Petrograd but they certainlv were

i58 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

not principals. So we decide to leave before the
performance is over. This time Carayanni insists
that we go to a regular cafe chantant. He will
take us to the best one; it is an open-air affair
but the weather is really not so cool to-night as to
make it disagreeable. We have to take a carriage
as it is at some distance, on the hills of Shishli.
This cafe chantant is in a garden. In the center,
where orchestra seats should be, are small tables,
with chairs in semi-circle facing the stage. It
is a regular theater stage and on both sides of
the garden, boxes have been built. It is crowded.
Every one seems to be intoxicated and the weird
music of a regular jazz band composed of genu-
ine American negroes fires the blood of the rollick-
ing crowd to demonstrations unknown even to the
Bowery in its most flourishing days before the
Volstead Act. Much bejewelled and rouged
"noble" waitresses sit, drink and smoke at the
tables of their own clients. The proprietor of
the place, an American coloured man who was
established in Russia before the Bolshevik revolu-
tion and who — it seems — protected and helped
most efficiently some British and American officers
and relief workers at the time of the Revolution,
is watching the crowd in a rather aloof manner.
Frankly he seems to me more human than his
clients; at least he is sober and acts with con-
sideration and politeness, which is not the case
with most of the people who are here. Not one

A NIGHT IN PERA 159

real Turk is in sight. Many foreigners, but
mostly Greeks, Armenians and Levantines — with
dissipated puffed-up faces, greedy of pleasure and
materialism. We have a liqueur. The show is
a vaudeville which is not very interesting. Every
minute that passes makes the crowd more and
more demonstrative. Carayanni is enjoying it
immensely, but I realize that our presence puts
a damper on his good time and although he de-
fends himself in the most exquisite manner when
I tease him about it and accuse him of being
evidently an "habitue" of the place, the glances
that he exchanges surreptitiously with one of the
waitresses — a real Russian beauty with pale skin,
fire-red lips and languid black eyes — confirm my
suspicions. My wife does not enjoy herself, and
she is tired: our life in Stamboul has evidently
made her lose her taste for late hours. Be-
sides she has never seen this kind of night life
anywhere and the atmosphere is getting decidedly
too tense for us. A "parti carree" enters a box
— and immediately pulls the curtain, thus cut-
ting itself entirely from the view of the public.
My wife looks at me in surprise. We really
must go.

It is too early for Carryanni, the night has just
started for him and for the other regular Perotes.
So we insist that he should not spoil his evening
and we apologise for our departure. He is heart-
broken to see us go but asks permission to remain,

160 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

protesting that he has some very important busi-
ness matters to talk over with a friend of his
whom he has just seen in the crowd. We under-
stand perfectly well and take our leave.

We step out of the gay garden. At the curb
a long line of automobiles is waiting. We take
one as it will get us home quicker than a carriage.
Besides, the streets of Pera, and especially of
Galata, are not very safe at this late hour, and
the quicker one rushes through them the better.

Pera is tossing in her sleep, nervous and rest-
less. A few night-owls of both sexes who evi-
dently have not yet been able to find a branch to
their liking are still wandering on the sidewalks.
The porches and doorways of nearly every house
are crowded with groups of children and refugees,
half-naked, sleeping cuddled up together to keep
warm. In restaurants and amusement places the
merry-makers are continuing their revels.

Galata again, her narrow streets still lit up and
still resounding with sinister noises. Now the
bridge, almost deserted, and then at last Stamboul,
our Stamboul, the beautiful Turkish city, sleeping
in the night the sleep of the just; poor Stamboul,
ruined by fires and by wars, sad in her misery,
but decent and noble ; a dethroned queen dreaming
of her past splendour and trusting in her future.

X

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922

npHE night life in Pera sketched in the past
chapter constitutes, naturally, only one aspect
of the present-day so-called social life of Constan-
tinople. In full justice to the inhabitants of the
city I must say that it is only the "Perotes," that
is, only those who inhabit Pera — be they for-
eigners, Greeks, Armenians or Levantines — who
find pleasure in this kind of distraction. The
people of Stamboul lead the quiet life which I
have already described. And in between these two
extremes there are, of course, quite a large num-
ber of foreigners, of Turks and of non-Turks
who do not participate in this kind of life but
who nevertheless seek distraction in the society
of each other in a more rational and decent way
than the Perotes — if not quite as sedate as their
friends of Stamboul.

Pera is the theatrical and the red light district
of the city. Stamboul is the residential district
of the more conservative Turks, that is to say, the
Turks who are modern enough to set aside all

the antiquated customs of their ancestors who—

161

162 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

by preventing their women from participating in
the every-day life, had handicapped the social
progress of the race — but who are not and do
not care to be modern to the point of adopting
indiscriminately all the social customs, good and
bad, of the Occident. Fortunately for Turkey,
the Turks who belong to this group constitute
the greatest majority. They are serious-minded
people, progressive without exaggeration, desirous
of adapting to their own temperament and cus-
toms only those foreign customs which are de-
sirable. They do not seek to imitate blindly
western nations. They do not care to be over-
westernized. These Turks realize that with all
its superiority over the Oriental structure, the
social structure of the West is far from being per-
fect, and they do not propose to introduce and
adopt customs which either might be incompati-
ble with their temperaments and traditions or
which have been and are strongly criticized by
well-thinking people even in western countries.

Besides Pera and Stamboul, the two opposite
poles, there is another district of the city where
certain foreigners live and some native non-Turks,
and quite a few Turks who do not mind over-
westernization. This district comprises the quar-
ters of Taxim and Shishli and a certain portion of
Nishantashe. It is situated on the hills north of
Pera and is considered by some to be the modern
residential section of the city. For those who

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 163

really love Turkey and the Turks or even for
those who are only interested in the Orient it has,
however, not much charm or attraction. Modern
apartment houses and new residences built in con-
crete or in stone, but which have no distinctive
character, adorn its wide avenues and its smaller
streets. The architecture here has no individual-
ity whatsoever, judging by the external appear-
ances of the buildings and by the aspect of the
avenues and streets, with electric street cars run-
ning, with automobiles and modern garages one
might be in any city of Europe. All speak of
modernism and those who inhabit it worship any-
thing that has the stamp of western civilization.
However, if one desires to lead any kind of social
life comparable to that of western countries one
has to come to this district and one has to identify
oneself with the social clique which dwells in it.

So, as my wife and I are both human, as we
are still young and desire once in a while some
kind of mundane distraction, we have had to
frequent — if not extensively at least moderately —
this section of Constantinople. One glimpse of a
night in Pera had been sufficient to make us
realize the necessity of finding other playgrounds.
We had to break, once in a while, from the quiet,
peaceful and elevating life of Stamboul if it were
only to make us appreciate more our normal home
life.

Shortly after we had settled in our house a

164 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

cousin of mine who lives in Shishli gave an after-
noon tea to introduce us to his set. He is a promi-
nent business man of Constantinople, and both
his own position as well as the prominence of his
family have placed him and his charming wife
among the leaders of the Turkish social set of
Shishli. They have an attractive house on one of
the principle avenues and entertain frequently.
His wife, like all the Turkish ladies of her set, has
a weekly "at home.,, On these days one is sure
to find a large crowd of callers in her salons.
She is a perfectly charming woman, very young
and beautiful. Her beauty is typically Turkish,
tall and slender although not emaciated, languid
black eyes with long eyelashes. She dresses
exquisitely as she buys most of her frocks in Paris
where she goes periodically to renew her ward-
robe. At the time they gave the afternoon tea
in our honour they had just refurnished their
house with furniture purchased on their last trip
to Italy and France. It was the first tea of
the season and my cousin and his wife told us
that all their friends were very anxious to meet
us. As theirs is a dancing set the news that a
Turk, freshly landed from America with his
American wife, would be present at the tea
had created quite a sensation; they were all
keen to see the latest steps danced in the States.
The dancing reputation of the Americans is world-
wide and the fact that my wife was an Ameri-

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 165

can had stirred the interest of my cousins' friends.
As for me, they imagined that any one who had
lived in America for such a long time must of
necessity be a good dancer. Only a very few of the
members of this set were known to me, and that
very superficially, as I had met them as small chil-
dren when I had previously been in Constanti-
nople. Now most of them were married and had
children of their own. So when we arrived at
my cousin's house we had to be introduced to
every one. My cousin, Salih Zia Bey, and his
wife, Madame Zia Bey, did the honours in that
most exquisite modern Turkish fashion which,
despite all its westernization, has still kept some-
thing of the ceremony characteristic of the old
Turkey.

We were ushered in by a tiny Javanese maid.
The drawing-room was crowded. Both my wife
and myself felt the strain of being the guests of
honour. We were somewhat conscious that we
had to live up to the expectation of our new
friends and try not to disappoint them too much
with our terpsichorean abilities. Madame Zia Bey
received us at the tea-table, which was really a
sort of large buffet piled with delicious pastries,
cakes, sandwiches and biscuits of all kinds. Tea,
coffee or a delicious punch were served according
to the taste of the guests. It was as elaborate
as the cold supper buffets one sees in America
at large dances.

166 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Madame Zia Bey, her sister-in-law and two
other young ladies who were helping the hostess
to serve, were the only ones who did not have the
"charshaf" — all the other ladies wore this most
becoming headgear which is made of the same
material as the dress and fits tightly around the
head, while its two flowing ends, which enclose the
shoulders when the ladies are in the street, hang
loosely behind them when they are in the house.
Over the head a flimsy veil — generally some pre-
cious lace — is thrown backwards at a rakish angle
and frames the face, which remains entirely un-
covered, in a softening cloud. After serving us
with some tea and cakes, Madame Zia Bey passed
us on to her husband who, one by one as the occa-
sion arose, introduced us to the guests. Later
the introductions were finished by Madame Zia
Bey who joined us after she had served all her
guests at the tea-table.

We were glad to see a few of our friends from
Prinkipo and the Bosphorus but the majority of
the guests were, of course, new to us. There were
two young men, two brothers, who were intro-
duced to us as the two "tango champions" of the
set. I must say that they are very nice young
boys and, despite the fact that they dance most
exquisitely, they are not at all the type of danc-
ing men one meets elsewhere. Their sister was
also there, with her fiance. I wished that some
of my American friends who absolutely refused to

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 167

believe that the custom of arranging marriages be-
tween girls and boys who had not previously met
was a thing of the past in Turkey could have
seen this couple. Mademoiselle Rashid Bey and
her fiance had known each other for some time
and their marriage was the result of a genuine
romance in which no outsider had interfered.

There were only two or three foreigners among
the guests, and the most prominent of them was
the Japanese Ambassador, who is quite popular
in the social circles of Constantinople. The Italian
military attache was also present as well as a
French officer. A Greek lady whose husband is
one of the very few prominent Greeks who have
remained openly faithful to the cause of Turkey
was also there. Needless to say that she and her
husband are very much liked by the Turks who
recognize their real friends and show them true
gratitude under all circumstances. The rest of
the crowd was exclusively Turkish, all most at-
tractive and genuinely refined people who had
kept, despite their extreme westernization, the
good manners and the good breeding character-
istic of their race.

When everybody had duly partaken of the
delicacies and refreshments offered at the tea-
table, we adjourned — with the slight touch of
ceremony prevailing in all Turkish gatherings —
to two spacious drawing-rooms on the same floor.
And, as we expected, the informal dancing started

i68 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

to the sound of a gramaphone of the latest model
imported from America. It was a surprise for us
to see how extremely up to date everybody was.
Charming Turkish girls were dancing the newest
steps as expertly as debutantes of New York,
London and Paris — with a little more decorum,
perhaps, and certainly with less "abandon," but
that did not in any way hurt the effect. Quite on
the contrary it gave to modern dances a degree of
respectability which is not always found in the
West.

One other difference that we found was that the
tango still reigned supreme here. It was played
at least seven or eight times during the evening.
But after seeing the excellence with which every-
body danced it my wife and I were quite reluc-
tant to give a demonstration of our own limited
abilities. We had to immolate ourselves, how-
ever, and although we did our best to come up to
expectation, I am not quite certain that we entirely
succeeded. Of course I had to explain that I
should not be personally taken as an exponent of
the American art as I was not and never had been
an expert in dancing. My wife saved the day for
America by tangoing with the real experts as per-
fectly as only an American girl can.

This tea-party at my cousin's was our first ex-
perience of Turkish social life. It was to be fol-
lowed by many others during the winter. As
I have said before, all Turkish ladies belonging

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 169

to this set have a day at home every week and
if one cares to go out extensively one has some-
where to go practically every day. While we did
not indulge in daily social activities this gave us
the opportunity to go out every once in a while —
about once or twice a week — which afforded us a
pleasant change from our more serious and much
quieter life of Stamboul, without obliging us to
seek distraction by frequenting even at long in-
tervals the unhealthy amusement places of Pera.
Thus the Turks have found a way to amuse
themselves among their own people exclusively
and while, of course, some foreigners are asked
to the parties of these small Turkish sets it is
only a very few of them — carefully selected — who
are privileged to frequent Turkish society. I am
ready to admit, however, that to my mind the se-
lection of these foreigners should be done even
more carefully as I share entirely the views of my
aunt, explained in one of my former chapters, that
the foreigners who are at present in Constantinople
are not as a whole very trustworthy and that it is
very difficult to distinguish among them those who
can be, without any objection, taken within our
homes. All the more because the Turks are
racially extremely hospitable and they are there-
fore apt to show too much confidence and to be-
come too intimate with those they take in their
midst. Many other races, many other civilizations
have gone down just because of their pure and

170 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

unsuspecting hospitality toward foreigners. The
Turks cannot be blamed for their present attitude.
In fact, if they are at all to blame it is that some
of them are even too careless in their extreme
desire to become entirely westernized and despite
the fact that I consider myself extremely liberal in
my ideas I entirely endorse the Turkish National
Assembly of Angora for remonstrating periodi-
cally with the Turkish inhabitants of Constanti-
nople for mixing too freely with foreigners and
for adopting too indiscriminately their customs.
Right in the middle of the 1 921-1922 season the
Turkish papers published broadcast such a remon-
strance of the National Assembly and although
many of the ill-disposed foreign newspapers took
advantage of this to harp on the xenophoby of
the Turks ruling in Anatolia, it really was for the
purpose — very justifiable and commendable — of
reminding the people of Constantinople that they
should respect and honour any and all of their
national traditions which did not hinder the con-
tinued advance of the nation toward progress and
real civilization. A reminder of this is an abso-
lute necessity and has to be uttered periodically,
as the people of Constantinople live at present
right in the midst of every kind of imported vices
and immoralities and the first duty of a nation
for the protection of its vitality and its vigor is
to see that the virtue of its people is not con-
taminated.

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 171

Naturally, in view of their environment, the
Turks of Constantinople are in danger. The
greatest majority of them have so far escaped
contamination by segregating themselves in Stam-
boul and in Nishantashe but there are some who
need to be called to attention once in a while as
the temptations in their path are too great. In
justice to them I am bound to say, however, that
judging by what I have seen they keep their mor-
als and virtues unimpaired despite their gay and
sometimes rather "advanced" appearances. But
still the danger is there and a periodical warning
is a very good measure.

Most of the Turkish social activities and enter-
tainments are held in the evenings, that is, from
tea-time to about dinner-time. The Turks, even
those who live in Shishli, have neither the means
nor the heart to entertain elaborately, and big
dinners or official receptions or dances are much
too elaborate affairs for them to undertake. So
they are satisfied with tea-parties with dancing —
tango-teas they are called — such as the one given
by my cousin. The evening entertaining is done
exclusively by the foreign diplomatic missions
and by some prominent foreign business men. I
am, of course, talking exclusively of social enter-
tainments which are refined enough for the Turks
to participate in. The other evening entertain-
ments offered by the professionals of Pera or by
the doubtful social set of Perotes — Greeks, Ar-

172 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

menians and Levantines — are not taken into con-
sideration.

The foreign diplomatic missions give once in a
while special receptions for the Turks to which
are also invited the officials, the representatives
and the nationals of the countries which are, if
not at peace at least not at open war against the
Turks. For instance, at any of the receptions
where Turks were invited Greek officials and Greek
nationals would shine by their absence and, accord-
ing to the wind which blows over Turco-British
relations, British officials were absent or present if
the latest declaration at the House of Commons
was to the effect of reinforcing the English sup-
port to Greece or else had taken the colour of a
revival of the traditional British friendship towards
Turkey and the Muslim world. The shifts in
international policy make the official social life in
Constantinople a very delicate matter indeed, and
the host or hostess who plans to give a large recep-
tion and is obliged to make the necessary prepa-
rations considerably beforehand has unquestion-
ably a very hard task, as no one can foresee, a
few days in advance, what the prevailing inter-
national policy will be on the day the reception
is given. The only reception that I know of which
was given with a total disregard of international
relations and at which all officials and prominent
citizens of all nations were invited was the recep-
tion given at the Persian Embassy in honour of

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 173

the Crown Prince of Persia. And despite all, it
was the most successful reception of the season
in Constantinople.

The Crown Prince was on his way to France
and was to stay only a few days in Constantinople
so that the Ambassador could not possibly give
several receptions to which he could have sepa-
rately asked the different warring nations. To
ask only some at the single large reception he
was obliged to give would have alienated the
friendship of all those who had not been invited.
So the Persian representative bravely decided to
ask everybody without distinction of nationality
and without regard to the political situation, and
let events take their course.

Naturally, events were powerfully helped by
the "savoir faire" and the courtesy of the Per-
sian representative and of his wife who were so
charming and hospitable to all their guests that
every one enjoyed the reception most thoroughly.
Of course we were all anticipating with much
curiosity the experience and were anxious to see
how it would turn out. The Persian Embassy
is in Stamboul, only a few doors from our home,
and the fact that the wife of the representative
was an American and that we knew them both
in America had established most cordial friendly
relations between them and ourselves. So we
were delighted to comply with the request of Her
Excellency the Khanoum, who asked us to come

174 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

early so as to be present when her first guests
arrived ; and soon after dinner my wife and I made
our way to the Embassy.

The Persian mission is located in a big building
which had been repainted for the occasion. It is
in the center of a large garden and has a gor-
geous view of the Bosphorus from over the Sub-
lime Porte. Over the big entrance gate of the
garden it has the Persian emblem, a lion and a
rising sun. The garden had been decorated for
the occasion with flags of all nations and multi-
coloured lanterns, while on a mast in the center
floated majestically a huge Persian standard.
Concealed among the trees a Turkish Naval Band,
graciously loaned by the Navy Department, was
playing different pieces of music. Attendants in
Persian uniforms with small black kolpaks re-
ceived, on the marble steps of the Embassy, the
arriving guests. We were among the first to
come and it gave us an opportunity of admiring
the rich antique Persian carpets with which the
enormous entrance hall had been decorated. The
whole place was covered with shimmering hang-
ings, carpets and rugs and with plants and rare
flowers. At the top of the stairs stood the Khan
and the Khanoum with the entire staff of the
Embassy, all in uniform and decorations. The
Khanoum wore her beautifully embroidered Per-
sian court gown and her diamond decorations and
greeted us with the ineffable charm which has

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 175

won for her the hearts of all who have met her
in three continents. She took my wife by the hand
and brought us into one of the principal salons
from where we could have a view of the gardens.
She informed us that the Crown Prince was rest-
ing in his private apartment on the floor above,
awaiting the arrival of the principal guests to hold
his court. As the guests were now arriving the
Khanoum returned to the head of the stairs to
greet them.

From where we were we could also see the
central hall where a special dais had been built
to serve as a throne for the Crown Prince. The
guests were placed in the different drawing-rooms,
according to their individual social or official po-
sition, the most important ones waiting in the first
drawing-room and the others in the drawing-
rooms behind. Soon the Naval Band outside
was playing the different national anthems of the
different diplomatic representatives as they were
coming iri. One of the first to arrive was the
British High Commissioner and his wife who took
their place right at the door of the drawing-room
where we were waiting. After a few minutes
and as the band was starting the Turkish National
Anthem, which indicated that the personal repre-
sentative of the Sultan and of the Crown Prince
of Turkey had arrived, the Persian Crown Prince
came in and took his place under the dais with his
brother and the Khanoum on his right and the

176 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Khan and the Turkish Grand Master of Cere-
monies on his left. Every one stood at attention.
The Crown Prince is a young man, dark and
good looking with a small, closely clipped black
mustache. He looked slim and tall in his tight-
fitting long black court dress, and appeared that
evening somewhat tired and nervous, which after
all was quite natural considering that he had
just arrived from a very long and tedious trip
across the Persian deserts, Bolshevik Caucasia,
and the Black Sea As soon as he had taken his
place the Turkish Mission was ushered in and
I am frank to admit that I was proud of the ap-
pearance of our representatives. The Sultan was
represented by his Minister of Foreign Affairs,
General Izzet Pasha, an imposing man of about
fifty, with gray mustaches, his fez slightly tilted
on one side giving a martial expression to his
distinguished and refined face. The Turkish
Crown Prince was represented by his son, Prince
Omer Farouk Effendi, an athletic young man in
the uniform of a cavalry lieutenant, tall and well
built, blond hair and blue eyes. They were both
surrounded with young officers who clicked their
heels martially when they were being introduced
to the Persian Crown Prince. After the Turkish
Mission the foreign missions were introduced one
by one according to the seniority of their respec-
tive heads and when the British Mission had
closed the official train — the British High Com-

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 177

missioner being the most recent foreign appointee
in Constantinople — the turn came for the other
guests. Because of our privileged position in
the first drawing-room our turn came immedi-
ately after the official missions and when we
made our reverence to the Crown Prince he
cordially shook us by the hand and addressed
us in a few kind words in French. We then
passed into the big ballroom where all the guests
had gathered, and the painful ordeal of all official
receptions, where you have to greet with stereo-
typed words the different people you know, began.
But it did not last long at this reception, as
there was informal dancing and as soon as the
music started the ice was broken and the usual
relaxation set in. We danced a little and we
watched the crowd which was the most interest-
ing agglomeration of official people one could
see anywhere. Even the Greek Mission was
present, but its members had the good taste to
disappear soon after the dancing had started.
Prominent diplomats of all nations and dash-
ing officers in resplendent uniforms were talk-
ing and joking with each other as if the war
had never taken place, or if peace had really
been established. But the most stunning figure
of all and the one which attracted the most atten-
tion, was unquestionably that of a young Arab
prince, cousin of Emir Feical, King of Mesopo-
tamia, and direct descendant of the Prophet Ma-

178 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

homed. The prince, or more correctly the "sher-
eef," as his real title is, was clad in a flowing
robe of silk and had the Arab headgear, a white
silk cover tightly bound on the head by a band
of gold threads and loosely floating on the shoul-
ders. We were talking with some American
friends, a dear old lady of the Middle West and
her husband who is a teacher at the American
Robert College, when the Shereef recognized me
and came to speak to us. Naturally, I introduced
him to my wife and our friends, and as he spoke
English most fluently, as he looked most romantic
in his robe, and his blond beard gave a Christ-
like expression to his aristocratic features, our
friends were visibly very much impressed by him.
When he left us the lady of the Middle West,
all a-flutter, asked me who he was — and could
not conceal her terrible disappointment when I
informed her he was a "Shereef"! The dear old
lady confused the title with the functions of a
sheriff charged with the keeping of the peace in
English-speaking countries, and her disappoint-
ment as well as the ignorance of her husband,
who did not correct Her, amused us so that we
did not explain, and to this day I imagine that
they both are firmly convinced that sheriffs in
Turkey wear too gorgeous and too impracticable
uniforms.

Towards midnight the doors of the dining-room
were opened and every one went down stairs to

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 179

Have cold supper. The crowd was such that de-
spite the rather chilly weather of the season many
wandered in the gardens. It is here that I was
for the first time introduced to His Highness
Izzet Pasha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who
was later to show me many marks of friendship.
He of course knew my father and my family and
immediately put my wife and myself at our ease
by stating that he wanted to be considered by us
as an "Oncle." This is a mark of extreme cour-
tesy in Turkey and we were, and have been ever
since, duly grateful to Izzet Pasha for this and
for his subsequent real friendship. Be it said in
parentheses that Izzet Pasha is one of the ablest
statesmen of Europe, broadminded, most progres-
sive and democratic.

As the crowd was thinning we had an oppor-
tunity to talk some more to the Persian repre-
sentative and to the Khanoum who were justly
delighted with the remarkable success of their re-
ception. They had dared to bring together all
the representatives of different nations at war and
of nations who had not yet concluded peace and
they had been most successful in their endeavour.
This was especially remarkable as it took place
right in Constantinople which is and has been for
many years the center of international intrigues,
political rivalries and petty jealousies. We could
congratulate them therefore most truthfully. They
took us back into a small sitting-room on the first

180 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

floor wHere we had a few minutes private audi-
ence with the Crown Prince who courteously ex-
pressed the hope that we had enjoyed the recep-
tion. Upon learning that my wife was American
he stated his admiration for the United States
which he hopes to be able to visit some time. It
surely would be a very good thing for the world if
through visits of this kind the western world was
placed in a position to know and appreciate the
Orient. The American idea of an Oriental po-
tentate would surely be greatly revised if Oriental
princes such as the Persian Crown Prince and the
Turkish Imperial Princes came to America and
entered into personal touch with the people.

Of course the Oriental feminine element was
entirely absent from the reception at the Persian
Embassy, the Persians being in this respect
much stricter than the Turks, their women do
not go out in society. And as Persian ladies
were not to be present, Turkish ladies also re-
mained away. But this is not the case at the re-
ceptions given by the other Embassies, especially
the American Embassy.

The United States High Commissioner and his
wife give every season a series of entertainments
to which they ask in turn the different nations
represented in Constantinople. This solves very
diplomatically the always ticklish problem of bring-
ing inadvertently together representatives of na-

CONSTANTINOPLE, 1922 181

tions who are not on good terms. The receptions
given at the American Embassy are always most
enjoyable and I can say without exaggeration that
among all the foreign representatives it is the
American High Commissioner and his wife who
are the most liked — and liked indiscriminately by
all — in Constantinople. Whenever they give an
entertainment to which the Turkish society is
invited the drawing-rooms of the Embassy are
rilled to full capacity as all the Turks who are
asked want to show their appreciation by coming
to the party. The company is always the most
representative gathering that one can see in Con-
stantinople. At one of the "the dansants" they gave
recently there were, besides all the Turkish Gov-
ernment officials, not less than four Imperial
Princes and three Princesses. It surely is a sign
of the times and proof of the emancipation of
Turkish women to see at a large reception a
Turkish Princess, a niece or cousin of the reign-
ing Calif, freely talking to strangers.

It is always at the American Embassy that one
sees the largest collection of Turkish ladies.
Americans are very much liked by the Turks and
many of the younger Turkish generation have
been educated at Robert College or at the Con-
stantinople College, the two American educational
institutions of Constantinople where young men
and young women are educated according to an

182 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

American program. It was at one of the teas
given at the American Embassy that we met one
of the principals of Robert College, and he and his
wife having asked us to tea the following week
and having promised to take us through the college
we were delighted to accept their invitation.

XT

ROBERT COLLEGE

J^OBERT COLLEGE is situated at the most
picturesque spot on the Bosphorus. It domi-
nates the narrowest part of the waterway and its
many buildings are on a hill, above the very place
which was selected by the Turks nearly six cen-
turies ago as the strategic spot to build their first
fort for the conquest of Constantinople. The
ruins of the old fort are still there.

Although the electric cars run from the city
almost to the very door of the college, we took
an automobile, both because we wanted to time
our arrival and because we did not desire to climb
through the park of the College up the hill where
its principal buildings are. We left Stamboul with
some American friends who had also been asked
and, at times skirting the quays, at times taking the
road behind the old palaces, we followed the wind-
ing contour of the Bosphorus. All the villages
here constitute the real suburbs of Constantinople
and follow each other almost uninterruptedly near-
ly to the shores of the Black Sea. One of the
first things that attracted our attention soon after
we had left the city proper were the buildings of

183

184 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

the American Naval Base where are kept all the
stores for the United States warships. The prin-
cipal nations keep such stores at present in Con-
stantinople, the harbour being used as a base for
their warships engaged in the international con-
trol of the straits. America maintains only a few
small craft in the Near East; therefore, its naval
base is much smaller than those of the other na-
tions but it is nevertheless quite an extensive or-
ganization where are stored canned products of
all kind, fresh food, as well as deck and engine-
room supplies. A few squares from the American
Naval Base is the Imperial Palace of Dolma
Baghtshe, the official residence of the Sultan.

It is an elaborate and large palace in stone
and marble, within a beautiful garden surrounded
with high walls and wrought-iron gates. I re-
member having entered it during the reign of
the late Sultan. I was struck by the enormous
size of its halls and rooms, by the luxury of its
priceless carpets, rugs and hangings, and by its
gallery of pictures which includes the most import-
ant collection of paintings of the famous Russian
artist, Aivazowsky. It had been collected by Sultan
Abdul Aziz and is now greedily coveted by many
European museums, who will, however, have to
be satisfied just to covet it as Turkey does not sell
its national art possessions. Passing before the Im-
perial Palace I could not help comparing mentally
its present appearance to the way it looked when

ROBERT COLLEGE 185

I had previously visited it. At that time the place
was full of life, the large gates were wide opened,
and the gardens were crowded with military aides
and chamberlains busily going and coming. Now
the gates were closed, a lonely Turkish sentry
was pacing up and down, guarding the empty
palace, and through the wrought-iron bars I could
get only glimpses of its forsaken gardens. My
American friends asked me why the palace was
now so tightly closed and easily understood the
reason when I called their attention to the fact
that most of the largest foreign warships had to
be anchored in the Bosphorus right in front of the
Palace as the inner harbour of Constantinople is
too congested with trade to make it practical for
battleships to stay there. No wonder, therefore,
that the Sultan prefers to live temporarily in the
summer palace of Yildiz Kiosk which is located
outside the city, on a hill far away from the sight
of foreign warships whose propinquity would be
too vivid a reminder to the sovereign of the plight
of his nation.

A little further on we passed before the gates
of another old palace which has now been con-
verted into an orphan asylum, where hundreds of
Turkish war orphans are being cared for by the
Committee of Turkish Ladies for the Relief of
Orphans. Poor little boys, ranging from six to
fourteen years and uniformly dressed in khaki
tunics and long trousers, were pitifully standing

i86 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

and watching the passers-by. They did not even
seem to have any desire to pass their few min-
utes of recreation in playing and running in the
gardens, as all other children of their age do in
all other countries. Truly Sherman was right in
his definition of war, and he would have even
forged a stronger word if he had seen the conse-
quences of war in Turkey!

Finally we arrived at Bebek, with its pretty lit-
tle public garden, its tiny harbour where small
yachts and skiffs are peacefully lying covered with
tarpaulin for their winter sleep. From here to
the lower gate of Robert College is only a very
short distance and within a few minutes our car
swung through the gate and up the road winding
its way to the top of the hill. The climb is pretty
steep and I pity the day pupils who have to nego-
tiate it every morning on foot. Of course the
teachers claim that this is good exercise for the
boys. There is a building at the foot of the hill,
right near the entrance gate, which was originally
meant as an abode for some of the teachers and
principals of the college. It has perfectly splendid
accommodations, but few of the teachers live here
as they naturally prefer to live on top of the hill.
Our hosts had their domicile in the hospital build-
ing which is right below the large terrace at the
very summit. So before we reached this terrace
our car swerved around and stopped at the door
of the hospital.

ROBERT COLLEGE 187

We were directed to an apartment on the
ground floor where our hosts received us and,
after the usual greetings, served us tea and some
delicious American homemade cakes. All the
furniture in this apartment — as throughout the
whole college — is imported from America, even to
the window frames. Provided one does not look
out of the windows one could easily believe one-
self to be in an American home of the standard-
ized "bourgeois" type. Everything, even to the
mahogany-finished mantelpiece and the book-cases
to match, speaks of America, the middle class
America cut out of immovable patterns. The
furniture itself is also American and reminds you
of pictures you see in the anniversary sales periodi-
cally advertised in newspapers. The eternal
rocking-chair is, of course there, and on the cen-
ter-table the latest Ladies' Home Companion
rests peacefully side by side with the latest Satur-
day Evening Post. Truly this is a little corner of
America, possibly not a corner of the progressive
America which leads the world in things artistic,
intellectual, scientific and political — possibly not a
corner of the good old consistent America, puri-
tan in her tastes, but which has for generations
given to the great Western Republic millions and
millions of hard-working farmers, traders and
navigators, Empire builders — but a corner of the
average America which abides faithfully to stan-
dardized taste. ./

iSS SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

The general conversation started naturally by
talking about America, the land of the free, and
how everyone wished to be there; how much com-
fort one had in America and how little of it one
had in Europe, especially in Constantinople; how
the American colony in Constantinople had in-
creased since the war, and what a blessing it was
to have now so many Americans whom one could
visit and whom one could talk to; how the Amer-
ican colony was sufficient to itself and how one
could pleasantly and interestingly pass away the
time by seeing only people of one's own kind with
whom one could speak without the necessity of
employing an interpreter or without being obliged
to watch oneself continuously so as not to make a
break. Of course this question of language is a
serious consideration to the Americans; as most
of them speak only English they have compara-
tively few people they can talk to in foreign coun-
tries. Our host, however, remarked that through
the good work done by Robert College and the
Constantinople College for Girls, who were both
striving to spread education and the light of truth,
the number of English-speaking "natives" had
greatly increased. Our hostess pointed out how
bright the young "native" children were and how
easily they picked up language, education and re-
ligion. They suggested showing us through the
college grounds and buildings and so we all got
up.

ROBERT COLLEGE 189

Our tour started by stepping out of the French
windows into the little terrace, where an old fash-
ioned New England flower garden had been trans-
planted on these distant shores. The hedges were
not high enough to completely mask the gorgeous
Oriental view. Seeing we were so much interested
in the panorama, our hosts suggested our going
on the roof of the Hospital Building where
we could see it without any obstruction. As we
passed through the drawing-room our hostess
pointed out to us the genuine Turkish and Persian
carpets she had been lucky enough to purchase
through the uncle of one of the pupils who had a
shop in the Bazaar. She considered them as a
real bargain and she proudly told us the price she
had paid. Of course we did not say anything, but
my conscience was only set at rest after I found,
through skilful investigation, that the pupil whose
uncle had a shop in the Bazaar was an Armenian
"and one of the cleverest little fellows we have."
Our hostess showed us also, hidden in a corner
near the door and patiently awaiting the eventual
return of its owners to America where it could be
shown to friends from Michigan or Wisconsin as
exhibit A of a quaint collection of Turkish an-
tiques, a brass brazero, another bargain purchased
from the Armenian uncle of the clever little pupil.
It seemed that this man through his good ser-
vices to our hosts had been recommended by them
to many of their friends and had furnished to

190 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

several of them similar bargains. No wonder that
the family of the little boy prodigy could afford
to send him to Robert College.

We climbed the stairs of the building and
stopped on our way in the hospital room, a per-
fectly equipped place with all the comforts de-
vised by modern science and kept immaculately
clean. And as we climbed one more flight we
reached the door of the roof, a spacious flat place
with an indented parapet built according to the
best principles of American neo-mediaeval sub-
urban architecture. Here we had the view, and
words fail me to depict its gorgeousness. Imagine
if you can a limitless horizon extending far into
the transparent azure of a limpid Eastern sky,
deep into the snow-covered mountains of Anatolia,
which are, however, so far away that they almost
seem at this distance to be below your level. All
around in the country are little bouquets of trees
which, with each slender minaret, represent the
location of a small village. Nearer, but still on
the Asiatic shores, are the green hills of the Bos-
phorus with their summer residences and their
uninterrupted line of homes by the water, while
below are the green hills of the European shore.
With the blue water in between and the blue sky
overhead, the picture is unforgettable. We admired
it in silence while our hosts told us of their little
country house in America, near a little pond whose
waters are as blue as the waters of the Bosphorus.

ROBERT COLLEGE 191

We descend from the terrace and we are taken
to the principal buildings of the college through
its splendid grounds. The park is beautiful and
well kept and is crowned with an enormous ter-
race, facing East, from where we have another
view totally different but fully as gorgeous as the
one we had from the Hospital Building. That is
the beauty of the Bosphorus: its aspect changes
from any spot that you stand on, its every hill,
its every house, its every nook and every corner
has a different outlook, each one more beautiful
than the other. It completely does away with the
monotony that any panorama, no matter how
beautiful, generally has.

Right behind the terrace are the playgrounds of
the college, large lawns with special accommo-
dations for all kinds of games: football, tennis,
croquet, and of course basket-ball and baseball.
Around these grounds and facing the Bosphorus
in a semi-circle are the principal buildings of the
College where the class-rooms, the dormitories,
the dining-rooms, laboratories, gymnasiums, etc.
are located. We go through some of them. They
are all spacious, well-ventilated and bright rooms,
and each is equipped according to the latest dic-
tates of hygiene and science. It really is perfect
in every detail and no modern college in the
United States can muster any better accommoda-
tion

Our host is justly proud when we compliment

192 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

him on the College. As they are taking us back
to our motor he wallas with me and expresses his
personal disappointment in not having a larger
number of Turkish pupils.

"We have pupils from all the nations of the
Near East," he says, "but the largest quota is
provided by the Armenians. We have, however,
quite a few Greeks, we have even Bulgarians and
Roumanians who come here from their distant
countries, we have Caucasians and Russians, but
barely a few Turks. I do not understand why
more Turkish families do not send their chil-
dren to be educated and brought up by us. The
Turks desire to acquire modern education, they
are unquestionably good workers and progressive.
Ours is, I believe, the best College in the Near
East, we have excellent teachers and our courses
are as complete as any of the American Colleges
back home. Still the Turks don't seem to care to
send us their children. They seem to admire the
Americans, they desire to know us better, to make
themselves better known to us. They seem to be
sincere in their wish to understand us better and
to have themselves better understood in America.
Still only a very few of them send their sons to
the only American College here and they prefer
to send them to Galata Serai which is a college
run by the French and where French education is
imparted."

On our way back in the car, I was thinking

ROBERT COLLEGE 193

over these parting remarks of our host and as
I noticed that the American friends who accom-
panied us had been impressed by them I decided to
tell them of my own experience, when years ago
I was called to choose between Robert College and
Galata Serai as the educational institution to which
to send my younger brother.

To appreciate the full meaning of my action at
that time and of the reasons that induced me to
act that way, I must first say that as my father
was in the diplomatic service I have grown up in
foreign countries and have myself received a for-
eign education. My childhood and early youth, I
passed in Rome, where French, Italian and Eng-
lish teachers prepared me for taking my French
degrees. I also had a Turkish teacher who taught
me my own language. As far as religious educa-
tion is concerned although I studied the Koran,
being a Muslim born, I also studied the Bible and
other Holy Books. My religious education was
therefore most liberal and according to the true
Muslim principles, which as I understand them
and as they are interpreted by all broadminded
Muslims, are all-inclusive of all other religions.
And recognizing the one Almighty God and all His
prophets, I never hesitated to go into any church
of any denomination and therein raise my thoughts
in prayer. In fact, having passed the greater part
of my life in foreign countries I have more often
prayed in churches than in mosques.

194 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Well about fifteen years ago, and after I had
finished my studies, I was engaged in business in
Constantinople while my father was transferred
from Rome to Vienna. My father was obliged
to choose between either having my younger
brother start again his studies, with German
this time as a basis, or else sending him somewhere
where he could continue his studies either in
French or in English, both of which he knew.
Naturally my father preferred this last course and
decided to send my younger brother to Constanti-
nople where he could follow either the course of
Robert College or that of Galata Serai, and he
asked me to investigate both colleges and to make
arrangements with the one I recommended the
most.

I went first to Galata Serai, the program of
which I already knew, having myself taken the
official French degrees. I knew that the education
one received in French schools was somewhat too
theoretical and I personally was not therefore in
favour of my brother following it. But to have
a clear conscience I visited the college and had a
talk with the principal. Of course I found the
class-rooms and dormitories good enough if not
very modern, and, as I expected, I found that ath-
letics and sports were much neglected. As for
the program of studies I found it as cumbersome
as the one I had taken.

My next step was to go to Robert College where

ROBERT COLLEGE 195

I was received by the then Dean, who very cour-
teously showed me all around. I was most fav-
ourably impressed by the great attention given to
athletics and sports as well as by the most modern
and hygienic buildings, the working quarters and
the living quarters. As for the program of studies
it did not take me long to realize how much more
practical it was than the French program, how
boys graduated from an American College stepped
into life better equipped to face all modern prob-
lems than those graduated from European Col-
leges. I therefore made up my mind and told the
Dean that I would most forcibly advocate the
sending of my younger brother to Robert College
in preference to Galata Serai. As a last word, and
so as to make everything clear, I asked the Dean
if, seeing that there were no classes from Satur-
day noon to Monday morning, the College would
object to allowing my brother to visit his family
from Saturday to Sunday evening. The Dean re-
plied that while he had no objection to my
brother's visiting his family on Sunday afternoons
it would not be possible for him to go home on
Saturdays, as one of the few unbreakable rules of
the College was that all pupils should be present
at Sunday service. Despite all my arguments to
the effect that my brother was a Muslim and
that, to be fair, he should at least not be obliged
to attend any religious functions until he had
reached the age of reason and could then choose

196 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

freely the creed he wanted to follow, the Dean in-
formed me that he was very sorry but Muslim or
no Muslim it was an unbreakable rule that all
pupils should go to church on Sundays and he
could not possibly make an exception in favour
of any Muslim pupil.

This rule seemed to me so narrow-minded, and
apparently such an unjustifiable attempt to try to
force, to coerce young children into the fold of one
church and one creed in preference to any other,
that I was struck by its narrowness in comparison
with the broadness of my own education. As a
result my brother went to Galata Serai. And hun-
dreds, possibly thousands of other Turkish boys
are sent yearly to Galata Serai in preference to
Robert College for this very reason. Americans
should not take the lack of participation of the
Turks in the educational campaign they lead in
Turkey as a reason to doubt of the desire of the
Turks to acquire modern education or as a proof
that they are not sincere when they claim that they
want to be better known by the Americans and
want to know them better. This lack of response
on the part of the Turks should be rather attri-
buted to the fact that all Turks like any civilized
nation, resent the activities of foreign missionaries
especially when these missionaries try to impose on
their children a religion which is not their own,
and try to mold young minds into accepting the
dogma of an alien church.

ROBERT COLLEGE 197

When I explained the foregoing to our Ameri-
can friends they understood exactly the situation
and they agreed with me that the greatest handi-
cap for the spread of American interests in the
Near East is the fact that all of the American edu-
cational enterprises are conducted by missionaries,
who, under the guise of offering modern educa-
tion, endeavour to convert people to their own de-
nominations. The Constantinople College for Girls
is conducted on identical lines, as far as religion
is concerned, with Robert College. And there
is no doubt that if instead of having Colleges for
Girls and Boys conducted by missionaries the
Americans maintained non-sectarian schools
where modern science was taught and education
imparted without consideration of religion they
would render a far greater service to humanity
and culture. Irrespective of religion, creed or
denomination they would help in forming in the
Near East new generations of modern men and
women.

Unfortunately the Constantinople College for
Girls has become, since the armistice, more un-
popular among the Turks also for another reason,
and that is that despite the fact that the United
States was never at war with Turkey, despite the
fact that the Turks had treated all American in-
stitutions most correctly and in a friendly manner
during the war, all the teachers and American em-
ployees of the College did not hesitate to manifest

198 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

openly their pleasure at the sight of the arrival of
the Franco-British fleet in the harbour of Con-
stantinople. Together with Greek and Armenian
pupils they waved flags and handkerchiefs, they
cheered from the windows of the College the bat-
tleships of the then enemies of Turkey without
consideration of the feelings of their Turkish
pupils. To all the Turkish girls the sight of the
entrance of the Franco-British fleet in the Bos-
phorus meant the realization of the defeat of their
country, and they still resent the fact that their
teachers, whom they had until then considered as
friendly Americans, cheered with joy in celebra-
tion of the defeat of Turkey, the country which
had extended them a most courteous hospitality
during the worst years of the war.

It is, of course, true that, fortunately for both
countries, there are in Turkey quite a few Amer-
icans and American institutions or enterprises
which are moved by truly American broadminded-
ness and are imbued with a true spirit of fair play.
Those are the business and Governmental institu-
tions, and it is most remarkable that all of the
Americans who do not have to depend for their
living on the continuance of an anti-Turkish cam-
paign, are out and out friendly to the Turks and
openly in their favour. The Turks see this and
can discriminate between the two groups. They are
duly grateful to those of their American guests
who show rectitude and fairness in their judgment,

ROBERT COLLEGE 199

They are especially grateful to the American High
Commissioner and to his assistants who are more
liked than any other foreigner in Turkey. The
other Americans are also very much liked, even
the missionaries, but it would unquestionably better
serve the interests of America in the Near East,
and civilization as a whole, if there were less mis-
sionary and more non-sectarian American enter-
prises.

I believe that the American friends who were
with us and who had been in Constantinople on
business for quite a while realized perfectly well
what I meant when I said that in my opinion the
most desirable thing in the interest of the two
countries would be the appearance of an American
Pierre Loti. It can be said that the indestructible
friendship between France and Turkey, and especi-
ally the fact that it has survived the war, has
been cemented by the work of this great French
writer. He has taken the trouble to study the
Turks, he has come and lived with them — not
in Pera, but in Stamboul, in the heart of Turkey.
He has lived as one of them for years and has
learned thoroughly their qualities and their faults.
He has knocked and has been admitted, he has
opened his heart and all hearts have opened to
him. And after having thus equipped himself he
has gone back to France and has endeavoured to
impart his knowledge of the Turks to his country-
men by writing unbiased novels and books. He

200 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

has, as all novelists, romanticized his message. As
the real poet that he is, he has shown Turkey and
the Turks through the coloured glasses of poetry.
He has perhaps added a few things here and
erased a few other things there. But he has
made the heart of Turkey talk to the heart of
France and they both have come to know and love
each other, without prejudice, without religious
thought.

A single American Pierre Loti, would render,
in the long run, much greater service to the in-
terests of his own country in the Near East and
would more efficiently serve the cause of civiliza-
tion than all the organizations at present en-
gaged in trying to make converts and succeeding
only in showing partiality in favour of the people
of their own religion by helping and succouring
Christians although thousands of destitute Tur-
kish refugees might be dying at their very doors.

After all Pierre Loti has used his exceptional
talents as a novelist and poet to bring about a
personal touch between the French and the Turks.
Is there not an American novelist or poet who is
willing to render the same service to his own
country? And if there is anyone whose talent is
equal to that of Pierre Loti and who has the
courage to publish his opinion as the French nov-
elist has done, he can thoroughly count on all the
help, assistance and gratitude of the whole Tur-
kish race, much maligned in American literature.

ROBERT COLLEGE 201

Pierre Loti Has become immortal tHrougH his
works on Turkey. The people of Constantinople
have built a monument, a fountain, in his honour
and have named one of the principal streets of
the City after him. His name is cherished by
millions of Turks who treat him as a friend, as a
brother, when he comes to Turkey. What is most
needed for the American propaganda in the Near
East is an American Pierre Loti.

Not that the works undertaken and conducted
by American enterprises in Turkey are not very
laudable in themselves. But they are as insuffici-
ent to promote a good and thorough understanding
between the two people as the activities of the
French missionaries were before the advent of
Pierre Loti. The French Freres and Sisters of
Charity had many schools, many hospitals and
orphans asylums where they were doing very
good work for many generations. But it took a
Pierre Loti to establish the personal bonds of
friendship between the two people and to promote,
by this fact alone, all French interests in Turkey.
He has made the masses of his countrymen at
home know and appreciate the Turks at their true
value. The work of an American Loti would be
the crowning glory of all American enterprises in
the Near East.

I explained to our friends that this was my
personal opinion only, and that I knew that the

202 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Turks appreciated fully the work that American
organizations were at present conducting in Tur-
key, and that my desire to see an American Pierre
Loti was exclusively due to a very legitimate wish
of seeing my country and my people better known
in America, known more intimately and more
thoroughly through the eyes of an impartial writer
rather than through the eyes of people who might
have certain interests in keeping alive the false
reputation of the Turks.

Our American friends agreed implicitly with
me and pointed out that what surprised them the
most on their arrival in Constantinople was to
find that all the Americans who were in business
or in non-religious work and who had had an op-
portunity to know the Turks had become without
exception real friends of this maligned race.
They said that a careful investigation would estab-
lish the fact that all those who have written or
spoken against the Turks had done so for an
ulterior personal motive. And they deplored with
me the fact that no great American novelist had
as yet come to Turkey and popularized in his own
country the knowledge of the Turks as they really
are.

Thus saying we arrived at the hotel where our
friends were stopping and upon their expressing
a desire to find out more about Turkish schools
and Turkish educational institutions, I promised

ROBERT COLLEGE 203

to arrange for them to visit some of the exclusive-
ly Turkish schools and colleges and to take them
to call on people who would be able to tell them
about modern Turkish education better than I
could. And we parted until the following week
when I was able to keep my promise to them.

XII
EDUCATION AND ART

TT was very easy to assist my friends in the
investigation they wanted to conduct for their
own private information on Turkish schools and
the educational system of Turkey. My father had
been twice Minister of Public Education and he
was in a position to give all the information de-
sired. My first step was, therefore, to take our
friends to him and have him explain the present
educational system in our country.

Contrary to what is generally believed in for-
eign countries education is obligatory in Turkey
and there are fewer illiterates among the Turks
than, for instance, among Russians and other
Near Eastern people. This is principally due to
the fact that all Muslims have considered it their
duty ever since the time of the Prophet Mahom-
ed to learn how to read the Koran. Unfortu-
nately, however, this religious principle was taken
too literally by the average Muslim who, for cen-
turies was satisfied to learn just the alphabet, as he
imagined that as long as he could read the Holy
Book he was accomplishing his religious duty. In

the course of time, therefore, when other nations

204

EDUCATION AND ART 205

besides the Arabs embraced the Muslim faith, the
people who did not know Arabic were also per-
fectly contented to be able to read the Koran even
if they did not understand its meaning. All Mus-
lim countries having adopted the Arabic alphabet
this very elementary education placed even the
greatest majority of non-Arab Muslims in a
position to read their own language. But it was
only a very restricted higher class which took the
trouble of studying its grammar. Thus for cen-
turies only a limited number of Turks — as was the
case with the Muslims of other nations — were
learned enough to read and write fluently their
own languages, although the greatest majority
knew enough of the alphabet to be able to read
the Koran and to sign their names.

Of course this restricted knowledge of reading
cannot count as education, but when it is con-
sidered that the science of reading was so ne-
glected among the nations of the West that prac-
tically up to the period of Louis XIV very few of
the Western nobles knew even how to sign their
names or to decipher the simplest document, it will
be admitted that anyhow the rudimentary knowl-
edge of the East was preferable to the almost total
ignorance of the West.

However, as in everything else, Turkey made
very little progress in this matter of education
during the nineteenth century with the result that
while the percentage of people who had acquired

206 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

a high school education had increased in a very-
large proportion in the West, the past generation
in Turkey had still only the same proportion of
educated people as it had a century ago. The
number of people who knew the elementary prin-
cipals of the alphabet was as considerable as be-
fore, and was proportionately much larger than
the number of people who had this elementary
knowledge in Western countries. But the per-
centage of really educated people was proportion-
ately much smaller in Turkey than in the progres-
sive Western countries. In other words, although
complete illiteracy was almost non-existent in Tur-
key, education was the property of a compara-
tively small number of people. The educational
level of the people at large was, and still is, much
lower than the educational level of the people of
Western European nations.

This explains the reason why one can see even
to-day in the streets of Constantinople, generally
in the courtyard of the mosques, public secretaries
taking letters from old men and women of the
lower classes, poor people who do not know gram-
mar enough to write their own letters but who
nevertheless are able to spell their names or to
laboriously decipher a printed document. And it
is no wonder that foreigners are generally scep-
tical when told that the number of total illiterates
is very small in Turkey.

Much has been done, however, during the last

EDUCATION AND ART 207

generation to spread education in Turkey and a
new system of schools has been grafted upon the
old system which consisted almost exclusively in
small public schools — "Mahalle Mektebi" or Dis-
trict Schools as they are called — where small chil-
dren are taught the rudimentary principles of the
alphabet.

These District Schools exist by the millions all
over Turkey, in cities as well as in the country.
Each mosque — and there are millions of them
— has its own private District School where the
imam or clergyman teaches the children of his
district, boys and girls, how to read the Koran.
The classes, if they might be called by that name,
are mostly held in summer in the courtyard of the
mosques and in winter in a room which, for lack
of a better name, we will describe as the vestry.
It is obligatory for every family living in the dis-
trict and it has been obligatory for centuries, to
send their children to these schools if they cannot
afford to give them a private education. Needless
to say that these schools are absolutely gratis.

The District Schools of Turkey are a sort of
primitive community Kindergarten from which
games and plays are strictly banned. Their pur-
pose is to teach children how to read the Koran,
and reading the Koran is a very serious matter.
So, for two hours every day except Fridays lit-
tle boys and little girls from five to about eight
years old go to the mosque of their district where

208 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

the classes are held. Sitting on the ground in sum-
mer and in winter on straw mats, they form a
circle around their teacher, the imam of the dis-
trict, who teaches them in a monotonous chant the
secrets of the alphabet They squat on their knees,
these little boys and girls, and repeat the chant
of their teacher, keeping time with their little
bodies which they swing slowly backwards and
forwards. And beware of a mistake! The little
pupil who makes one, who indulges in a childish
prank or who does not behave according to the se-
vere discipline which must be respected by everyone
who is learning how to read the Koran or who is
in the exhalted presence of an imam, is reminded
of his misdeed by the swift application of a long,
willowy stick on his hands or on some other part
of his anatomy. The teacher keeps this stick right
next to him, right under his hand, and is very
quick to use it.

The alphabet is first memorized, each letter be-
ing accurately described. Of course the Turkish
alphabet is different from the Latin alphabet, but
the system could be applied to the Latin alphabet
more or less as follows: "A is a triangle with a
bar in the middle" — "B is a vertical bar with two
circles on the right" — "C is a crescent facing to
the right." Thus the whole alphabet is described
in a monotonous chant for days and months until
the pupils can visualize it thoroughly. Then the
sounds of syllables are memorized according to

EDUCATION AND ART 209

the same system and it is only after this has been
done thoroughly that the children are permitted
to apply the knowledge they have thus acquired
by memory. They are each furnished with a
Koran and they are taught to read it aloud. Of
course, as the understanding of the text of the
Koran requires a thorough knowledge of Arabic,
they do not understand what they read and those
who desire to acquire this knowledge have to go
to the Medresse or theological schools, of which we
will talk later. The purpose of the district schools
is exclusively to teach them how to read, and when
this is done the course of the district school is
finished.

In the old days obligatory education only ex-
tended as far as the district school. This is not
so any more. During the past twenty-five or thirty
years the Government has created high schools
in the principal cities and towns of the country
where modern education is imparted as well as
the restricted means of the impoverished nation
allows. The courses of these high schools are
also free and their program is meant to pre-
pare the pupils for college studies. They are
obligatory only for boys. The system is good
enough, but for lack of funds and for lack of peace
the Government has not been able to apply it
thoroughly and to extend it as much as it was orig-
inally expected. The study of foreign languages
is only optional and very theoretic in these schools

210 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

where only the elements of arithmetic, grammar,
literature and history are taught.

The next grade is the college which corresponds
to the French Lycee and which is an absolute adap-
tation to Turkey of the French program. The
first college of this kind in Turkey was Galata
Serai which was organized nearly half a century
ago and has ever since kept pace with the French
Lycees. As its diploma is recognized by the
French Government as equivalent to that of any
Governmental French College this institution is
a sort of joint Tur co-French enterprise and is used
as pattern by the other Turkish Colleges. Upon
the invitation of the Turkish Government the
French Ministry of Public Education organ-
ized Galata Serai and the French cooperation in
this non-sectarian and exclusively educational in-
stitution has continued ever since its formation,
regardless of wars or political entanglements. The
French language is of course obligatory and the
study of another foreign language is encouraged.
The principal courses are given during the first
three years in Turkish and during the last two
years before graduation in French. An institu-
tion of this kind, but with the cooperation of
America and where American teachers and prin-
cipals should take the place of French teachers and
principals, would do more for the spreading of
modern education on practical lines, for the ad-
vancement of civilization by bringing up future

EDUCATION AND ART 211

Turkish generations capable of rationally adapting
to the Near East the principles of democracy as
conceived by the Americans than many mission-
ary schools.

The other Turkish Colleges are modelled after
Galata Serai, with the difference that while French
or one other foreign language is obligatory all
courses are given in Turkish, and their teachers
and principals are Turks. Although these insti-
tutions are not free the tuition fees are so nom-
inal that the Government is obliged to subzidize
them. At present the fees for the yearly courses
are equivalent to about a hundred and fifty dol-
lars, including lodging and food, and for the pur-
pose of making it easier to the very much im-
poverished population the Government consents to
a substantial discount on these fees to the chil-
dren and relatives of Government employees.

Here also lack of funds has greatly hampered
the organization of these colleges throughout Tur-
key. While it was the original program to open
one such college in every city, the Government has
been able to organize and maintain only about
five of them throughout the country, and as only
three are for boys and two for girls it can readily
be seen that they do not suffice for the requirements
of Turkey.

In addition to these schools and colleges there
are in Turkey many academies and universities
where college graduates are able to specialize in

212 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

the different branches they have selected. Most
of these academies and universities are in Con-
stantinople, and while the greatest majority are
supported by the Government some of them owe
their existence to private endowments.

In late years, that is up to the Armistice, the
Government had given special attention principally
to two institutions: the Naval Academy and the
Medical Academy. The signing of the Armistice
with the consequent dismantling of the Turkish
navy brought, of course, a great setback to the
Naval Academy which is now fighting for its
life against tremendous odds. Naturally the navy
of Turkey being reduced to practically nothing
very few families desire to send their children to
the Academy. In addition the foreigners who con-
trol Constantinople do not look with a very favour-
able eye upon the maintenance of this Academy
for fear of its keeping alive a militaristic spirit.
They do their utmost to encourage its closing.
This is the more regrettable that in the last fifteen
years the Academy had been reorganized so thor-
oughly that it was in all points comparable to any
of the best high-grade educational institutions of
the world. As its manager told me once, the pur-
pose of the Academy was to form real men so that
the cadets who had graduated would be in a posi-
tion to enter into any branch of modern activity in
case they decided, after their graduation, to quit
the navy. The best proof that the Academy has

EDUCATION AND ART 213

most efficiently lived up to this principle is that
after the Armistice and when the fleet was dis-
mantled all the naval officers who were obliged to
leave the navy succeeded in making a living, and
many of them have been most successful in
their new activities as business men. It would
be a shame if an institution which had so marked-
ly succeeded in forming a generation of real men
was obliged to close its doors. An institution for
forming generations of real men should not be
allowed to die just because of the dismantlement
of the fleet.

The Medical Academy is another institution
which has done a most efficient work of civilization
in Modern Turkey. It can be said that the Turk-
ish "intelligentsia" consists mostly of doctors and
medical students. The generation of Turkish
physicians which the Medical Academy has formed
has taken a lead among European medical circles
and many are the Turkish doctors whose knowl-
edge, activities and discoveries in medical science
have earned them professorships in France and
Germany. The Medical Academy, which is situ-
ated in a large modern building near the station
of Haidar Pasha, the headline of the Bagdad
Railroad, is completely equipped with all the re-
quirements of modern science. It also maintains
special courses for nurses, which are now very
popular among Turkish women.

It would be tedious to talk at length of all the

214 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

industrial schools that have been organized in the
past ten or fifteen years in Turkey. Suffice it
to say that quite a number of them are in existence.
But a special mention should be made of the two
universities of Constantinople as they are up to
date in every respect. One of these universities
is exclusively for women, the other is open to
both sexes, and any one who has seen a mixed
course where young Turkish women, in their be-
coming tcharshaf, sit on the same benches and
study side by side with men students can only
wonder how the legend of the seclusion of Turkish
women can still receive credence in foreign
countries.

In concluding his rapid outline of Turkish
schools and the Turkish educational system, my
father mentioned the different art schools which
are now prospering in Turkey as well as the
medresses or theological schools where the Muslim
religion is taught. I could see that our American
friends were especially interested in these two
subjects and as we were leaving my father's house
I was not surprised to have my impression con-
firmed. They wanted to know more about Turkish
art and they wanted to learn something about the
Muslim religion. Of course I cannot say that this
surprised me.

Whenever the word "art" is pronounced in con-
nection with Turkey, it awakens in the mind of the
westerners, especially the Americans, only carpets,

EDUCATION AND ART 215

embroideries and laces, and dark-skinned, thick-
eyebrowed Armenian merchants trying to sell at
exorbitant prices these dainty art works of the
Orient — purchased by them for a song generally
from some poor women who have used their eyes,
their health and their time for the ultimate purpose
of bringing some soothing touch of colour into
the modern homes of Europe and America, and
many many dollars, pound sterlings, or napoleons,
as the case may be, into the bank accounts of the
dark-skinned, thick-eyebrowed merchants. Even
to an American or a westerner who has been in
Turkey as a tourist the word "Turkish art" does
not convey much more. In addition to carpets,
embroideries and laces he may visualize some
musty copper brazero, some delicate handwritings
with painted arabesques of flowers, some richly
painted porcelains or embossed leather bindings.
All things which spell old age. In modern art he
would only visualize some Oriental jewels — made
in Germany! Few are the foreigners who think
of Turkish art in the light of regular paintings,
architecture or music. And when they hear of art
schools their curiosity is excited.

As far as the Muslim religion is concerned
westerners are, as a rule, even more ignorant
on this subject than on that of art. They think
of the Muslims as unbelievers, as pagans who
deny God and the Christ, as fatalists who calmly
await the fulfilment of the prophecies without

2i6 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

having enough sense to get out of the rain
even when it pours. The only activities they give
the Muslims credit for are massacres and atroci-
ties. They believe that theirs alone is a religion
of love and mercy while that of the Muslim is one
of fire and blood. I remember that an American
from Pittsburg, upon hearing that I was a Muslim,
asked me what god I adored, and absolutely re-
fused to believe that I adored the One Almighty
God. He had heard that we prayed to Allah.
Say what I would I could not at first explain to
him that "Allah" in Arabic means God in English,
and he was only half convinced when I told him
that at that rate the French were also unbelievers
as they prayed to "Dieu."

But the request of our American friends was
not one that could be immediately satisfied as I
had to make the necessary arrangements to visit
the art schools and medresses and I had to await
an opportunity to put them in contact with people
who could tell them more of Turkish art and of
the Muslim religion than I could. It was there-
fore only a few days later that I could arrange to
take them to the Academy of Art of Constantino-
ple, the principal school of its kind in the Near
East, where no other city — not even Athens, which
is still considered as the cradle of art — can boast
of as complete and progressive an art academy.

The academy is located in the Park of the Old
Seraglio, right next to the Imperial Museum.

EDUCATION AND ART 217

They are both under the same management, and
as we arrived on the large plaza, shaded by old
trees, we were received by the secretary of the
manager, a cousin of mine, whom I had asked
to show us through the place so as to give all
available information to our friends.

He took us through the building where different
classes for drawing, painting and modelling were
being held in different rooms. The class-rooms are
large, all whitewashed and lighted by skylights
and big windows. The whole place is kept im-
maculately clean. The students are quite numer-
ous and our American friends were surprised to
see that there were as many Turkish girls studying
art as men. "We always thought of Turkish
women as hothouse flowers, " they said, "and we
were very much surprised to see when we arrived
here how many of them take an active part in busi-
ness and in the e very-day life of the community.
We imagined that those who were thus active
were doing it out of necessity because they had to
earn a living. We could not conceive that Turkish
women would work of their own choice, and espe-
cially would spend time in studying art which,
after all, is a luxury."

Kadry Bey, the secretary of the manager, smiled
and said: "Woman is the materialization of art:
is it surprising that, now that Turkish women have
acquired their entire emancipation, they should
desire to study a science the knowledge of which

218 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

gives a better appreciation of their own attribute,
beauty? As soon as these classes were opened to
Turkish women only a few years ago, they
flocked in great number to take full advantage of
the opportunity and you can judge for yourself
how hard they are working. Some of them have
already acquired a certain renown, and one of
them, a former pupil of this academy, Moukbile
Hanoum, has just written us from Switzerland
where she is visiting, that one of her pictures had
been awarded a medal at an international exhibi-
tion in Berne."

As our guests wanted to know if there were
no galleries or exhibitions where the work of
Turkish artists could be seen, Kadry Bey told
them of the bi-yearly exhibitions which are regu-
larly held in Galata Serai under the auspices of
the Turkish Crown Prince. "His Highness Prince
Abdul Med j id Effendi, heir to the throne of the
Sultans and future Calif of the Muslims, is an
accomplished artist himself/' said Kadry. "He
is one of our most active leaders and enjoys a
reputation as a painter even in France. His
pictures have been often exhibited at the Paris
Salon and there also a Turkish artist has received
the highest recognition for his work. Only a
short time after the armistice one of the pictures
of our Crown Prince received the gold medal.
This is unquestionably a palpable proof of the
artistic value of His Highness's work as the

EDUCATION AND ART 219

Committee of the Paris Salon is composed of the
greatest living artists in the world. It is also a
splendid illustration of the saying that art has no
country as French artists did not hesitate to
recognize publicly the value of this painting by
our Crown Prince so shortly after the war. If you
are in town when the next exhibition is held at
Galata Serai I strongly advise you to visit it.
You would see there pictures by our most promi-
nent artists, as O. Hikmet, M. Refet, Tchalizade
Ibrahim and others, whose works are as good as
any of the modern artists. Most of them follow
the classical school and very few indeed are the
Turkish artists who practise post-impressionism
and other extreme styles. You probably would
have an opportunity of seeing at the exhibition the
Crown Prince himself as His Highness goes
there practically every day and you would surely
be interested in seeing the democratic way in
which he talks and jokes with the other artists."
Our friends wanted to know something more
about the Crown Prince. So my wife and I told
them of the time we had the privilege of hearing
a few of his compositions played by the orchestra
of the Imperial Palace. It was at a charity con-
cert given for the benefit of the Turkish refugees
of Anatolia. Prince Abdul Medjid Effendi was
there personally and although his compositions
were not included in the program, the audience
asked and insisted on having them, much to His

22o SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Highness's embarrassment. As a true artist the
Prince hates publicity and his activities as a
painter or as a composer are not at all meant
for public consumption — as were those of the
Kaiser — but simply for his own satisfaction and
for the pleasure of a few privileged friends.

Thus talking, we were visiting the different
class-rooms of the academy. Kadry Bey intro-
duced us to some of the teachers and to one or
two of the most advanced pupils and as we finished
our visit he asked us into the reception room
of the manager who, being absent for the day,
had asked him to have us to tea in his place.

As we had to cross the Museum we stopped on
our way to admire once more the famous sarco-
phagus of Alexander, which is said to have con-
tained the remains of Alexander the Great of
Macedonia and which is the pride not only of the
Museum but also of all Turks. Hamdi Bey, the
founder of the Museum, unearthed it himself in
the plains of Anatolia, not far from Smyrna, and
I remember his telling me personally that he was
so excited and exhilarated when he discovered this
peerless jewel of antique art that for two days and
one night he and his assistants worked consecu-
tively without sleep, without food. Finally the
second night arrived and as the delicate work was
not yet finished Hamdi Bey fell asleep from sheer
exhaustion, but lying close to the sarcophagus,
in the earth that had hidden it for so many cen-

EDUCATION AND ART 221

turies, so that he could at least feel his priceless
find during his sleep.

The present manager of the Imperial Museum
is Hamdi Bey's brother and succeeded him after
his death. I had an occasion of meeting him only
a few days ago and the sight of the Sarcophagus
of Alexander brings back to me the recollection
of this meeting. I was coming out of the Sublime
Porte with Izzet Pasha, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, when we met the manager of the Museum,
Halil Bey. Izzet Pasha stopped and addressed
him: "I have bad news to give you," said he, "a
powerful foreign group has approached me to-
day and has informed me that it was willing to
pay any price the Government wanted for the
Sarcophagus of Alexander." Halil Bey was dumb-
founded. The prospect of losing the most cher-
ished possession of his Museum, discovered by his
own brother, was too momentous, too enormous a
blow. But his fears were put at rest by Izzet
Pasha when the Minister added with a smile. "I
have answered them that the loss of the Sarco-
phagus would be considered by the Imperial Gov-
ernment as great a loss as that of the wealthiest
province of the Empire, Mesopotamia, the historic
City of Bagdad and its rich oil fields not excepted,
and that therefore it could never entertain even
the possibility of selling the sarcophagus. No
matter how poor we might be the price to be paid
for the possession of the sarcophagus will always

222 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

have to be reckoned in corpses on battlefields and
not in money on a counter" ! This little incident
gives a graphic idea of the degree of appreciation
in which the Turks hold their art treasures.

As we were having tea in the reception room
of Halil Bey we talked of his family and of how
much the art renaissance in Turkey owed to them
all. Besides Hamdi Bey, who has left an undying
name in the annals of Turkish history both as the
founder of the Imperial Museum and as the creator
of the Art Academy, besides the fact that his
brother, Halil Bey, has followed in his path and
is continuing the work undertaken by him, it
is worth mentioning that Hamdi Bey's son is a
distinguished architect to whom is due the beauti-
ful buildings of the Museum and of the Acad-
emy. This distinguished family has unquestion-
ably done more for the revival of art in Turkey
than any one family has done .for art in any
other country. And it was almost a pleasure
that Halil Bey was not present as we could more
freely talk of his services and of those of his
family within the very walls which had been
erected by them and filled by them with treasures
discovered through their own initiative and work.

Our American friends admitted that this visit
had thrown a different light on their conception
of art in Turkey and its appreciation by the Turks,
but as they were not satisfied until they had
seen some other art school I took them next day

EDUCATION AND ART 223

to the Darul-Elhan, the Turkish School of Music
for Girls and we had the good fortune to assist in
a most interesting concert. This school was
founded and is being managed by Senator Zia
Pasha, who was Turkish Ambassador in Wash-
ington a few years before the war. It is lo-
cated in an old palace in the very heart of Stam-
boul. Our American friends were quite impressed
by the knowledge that they were to hear and see,
in the proper setting where their ancestors had
been recluses, free and emancipated Turkish girls
playing and singing for the benefit of strangers.
To the accompaniment: of violins, lutes and long-
stemmed "tambours" these Turkish girls with the
full knowledge possessed only by accomplished
artists and with the soft, velvety voices so typical
of the Orient, sang and played a selection of the
most complicated, classical music as well as charm-
ing little folksongs. Zia Pasha was there himself
and as I introduced him to our friends he ex-
pressed the wish that more foreigners would
make it a point, when in Constantinople, to assist
at such concerts: "Perhaps," said he, "if for-
eigners studied our music better its reputation
for weirdness and montony would give place to
one of softness and melody. Perhaps foreigners
would even be able to detect in our music all the
accords and measures they relish so much in mod-
ern Russian music such as that of Rimsky Korsa-
koff, which after all is nothing more or less than
the orchestration of our Oriental music."

XIII
A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM

PHE week following our visit to the Darul-
Elhan and the concert which was given
there, I had an opportunity to arrange a meeting
for our American friends .with the leader of one
of our Muslim sects, Hassan Effendi, who had
been described to me as one of the most advanced
and broadminded theologians of Islam. A friend
of mine who was a follower of Hassan Effendi
was to take us to his house and we were to go
there from our own home in Stamboul, as that was
the most convenient place where we could all
meet.

On the appointed day and about an hour before
the time fixed for our audience with Hassan
Effendi our American friends arrived. My wife
was delighted to see the genuine interest they
were taking in the Turks and in the Muslim re-
ligion and encouraged them in asking questions.
She believes, and I think rightly, that the more
intimately the Turks are known, the less credence
foreigners can attach to all the malicious accounts
which are being circulated by interested propa-
gandists. She believes that the best way to

224

'A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 225

find out if the Turks are really terrible is to take
the trouble to know them, the best way to prove
that they are not "unspeakable" is to speak about
them.

Our friends were especially at a loss to explain
why, as long as there was such an active revival
of art in Turkey, so few foreigners knew about it,
even among those who are in Constantinople.
My wife explained this:

"The trouble is," she said, "that most foreigners
who live in Constantinople band together and will
not mix with the people of the country. They do
not take the trouble to learn the language, they
do not bother to make friends with the people.
They live in small, self-sufficient groups. I am
sure that if they only knew how much they miss by
doing this, they would revise their mode of living,
and they would find out that instead of its being
a trouble or a bother to learn Turkish and to make
friends with the Turks it is, on the contrary, a real
pleasure. Of course the Turks are also somewhat
to blame as they — at least those who are not over-
westernized, and they are the best — do not make
an effort to mix with foreigners or to Turkicize
the foreign elements who are established in their
country. But after all I understand their point
of view as I know how we feel in America about
the foreigners who come to the States and do not
assimilate. And as for "Turkicizing" even the for-
eign elements who are established here, we must

226 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

not forget that in all matters the world has two
standards, one for the western nations and the
other for Turkey. When we, in the States, en-
deavour to Americanize foreigners who have come
to live with us, the world admires us and calls
America "the melting-pot" — but if the Turks ever
dare to try to apply the principles of equality of
all Ottoman citizens without distinction of race
or creed, the whole world jumps on them and
claims that they are endeavouring to destroy the
rights of minorities. Anyhow, the reason why the
revival of art in Turkey is not much known by
foreigners is because they have not, so far, in-
vestigated with open heart and open mind the in-
tellectual activities now under way in Turkey. As
soon as foreigners will give up their self-suffi-
ciency, as soon as they will mingle with the people
and will be willing to consider themselves as
guests in the country, they will be received
with open arms in Turkish communities. And
then probably someone will "discover" Turkish
art and it will become fashionable throughout
the West, just as some years ago Russian art was
discovered and became fashionable in Europe and
in America."

Our friends wanted also to know how it was
that, although Turkish culture did after all ante-
date modern European culture, as it was the con-
tinuation of the Arabic civilization of the middle
ages, art — with the exception of applied art — was

A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 227

only of a recent origin in Turkey. I was glad
to answer to this question, as it took us into the
subject which we wanted to investigate to-day,
that of religion.

"Nearly seven hundred years before Protestant
leaders forbade the use of pictures and sculptures
in their Church, the Prophet Mohamed had simi-
larly prohibited the reproduction of any human
or animal form within the walls of mosques. Ig-
norant people praying before the image of a saint
or of a prophet are liable to adore the material
picture or sculpture rather than the spirit it rep-
resents. I believe that idolatry is a direct out-
come of this human tendency. The worship of
idols in antiquity and of images in certain ignorant
modern communities is a deterioration of origi-
nally spiritual teachings. Therefore, to prevent
the repetition of a similar deterioration by his fol-
lowers Mohamed ruled that they should banish all
images from places where they prayed. But this
restriction was originally placed on the use and
not on the production of images: silver money
coined at the time of Mohamed bears the effigy
of the prophet. However, in the course of time
his successors went so far beyond his teachings and
his example that they altogether forbade even
the creation of images. Thus the coins of all
Muslim rulers were made to bear their names
instead of their likeness, and for centuries Muslim
artists, including the Turks, devoted their genius

228 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

to creating exclusively decorative art representing
writings, arabesque designs, or flowers. It was,
therefore, only as education spread among the
people of all classes, it was only after even the
masses began to understand the true purpose of
the restriction placed on the use of reproductions
of living beings, it was only about ten or fifteen
years ago that Turkish artists branched out into
these heretofore forbidden fields of art. Thus the
delay in the development of art in Turkey is due
to religious reasons. But even at that I consider
it salutory; after all it is much better to have in
its infancy that branch of art which reproduces
living beings than to have religion stained by
idolatry — especially as the other branches of art
were permitted to follow their natural develop-
ment. No one can say that the Muslims, the
Orientals, have not a keen appreciation of colour
and design, no one can say that the restriction
placed on art has atrophied their sense of beauty."
As I was finishing these remarks, my friend
Emin Bey, who was to take us to Hassan Effendi,
arrived and we started on our way. Emin Bey
speaks perfect French. He is one of the high
employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
but he does not know English and told us
that neither Hassan Effendi nor probably any
one that we might meet at his house would
speak English. So we decided that I should be
the translator and I told our American friends

A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 229

to ask without reticence any question they might
wish.

Hassan Effendi lives in Stamboul not far from
the Mosque of Sultan Soliman, but on a side street.
So when we reached the square — in the center of
which has been built in recent years a monument
to two "aces" of the Turkish Aerial Fleet who
died on the battlefield — we turned to the right and
entered a narrow street. We passed under the
arches of the old Roman Aqueduct, at the foot
of which were built little wooden shacks covered
with tin plates which had been in other days
Standard Oil cans. These shacks are the tempo-
rary abode of many Turkish refugees in Con-
stantinople, people who have been left homeless
either by the war or by the numerous fires which
have devastated the city in recent years. Soon we
reached the barren sides of a hill covered with
ruins, the very center of one of these fires. On the
top of the hill and a little to the left was a small
group of houses clustering about each other, a
little mosque and a very old mausoleum. Here
also was the house of Hassan Effendi, on what
used to be the corner of a street, a tiny house
with whitewashed bricks, an arched porch and
a covered gallery which gave on a miniature
garden. Through the columns of this gallery one
could see two old trees — a fig tree and a cypress
— two giants which, with the climbing vines on

23d SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

the old walls, gave to the whole place the aspect
of the inner yard of a mediaeval cloister.

The inside of the house was meticulously clean.
All the walls are whitewashed and the floors are
covered with white straw matting, with no rugs or
carpets, except in the corner of the central hall,
where was a folded prayer rug. Probably the
master prays here when he does not go to the
mosque. On the windows are little curtains of
white muslin, hanging loose and straight. On the
walls only a few framed writings beautifully
decorated. I translated them for the benefit of our
friends; one says: "Only God is eternal, all else
is temporary"; the other asked for Divine guid-
ance, a third proclaimed the Oneness of God. All
around and against the walls are low divans, with
pillows, covered with silks of soft hues. This is
the only furniture, the only luxury, the only touch
of colour in the room.

We were announced and immediately ushered
into Hassan Effendi's room, a room similar to the
one we left. He advanced to greet us at the door.
He is an old man, a patriarch with a white beard
and blue eyes which have contemplated the infinite.
He wore a white turban and a long flowing robe
of black silk. He shook hands with all of us and
as I tried to kiss his hand in sign of respect, he
withdrew it hastily and placed it on his breast, a
token of gratitude. He asked us to sit down and
took himself a place in a corner, near the window

A GLIMPSE OF ISLftM 231

from where he could see the endless sky, the hills
of Stamboul with all their mosques and a strip of
blue water, the Golden Horn. Under his windows
are the ruins of man-made buildings, ephemeral
homes which were destroyed in one night of ter-
ror, leaving their inhabitants without any earthly
possessions — their whole having been devoured by
the flames. After every one was seated the master
saluted us with his hand, each one separately:
"Selamu' Aleykum — Peace be with you"!

Coffee was served and to make us feel at home
Hassan Effendi asked us to smoke. He does not
smoke himself. He asked how our American
friends liked the Orient and what had interested
them in Turkey. Upon my telling him, at their
request, that they were mostly interested in edu-
cation, especially religious education, and that they
wanted to know something about our religion, he
turned to me and said:

"Tell them, my son, that education is one of the
principal bases of Islam. The Holy Book makes
it obligatory for all Muslims to know at least
how to read and says that those who serve science,
serve God. The early Muslims practised this
teaching so thoroughly that only a few generations
after the Prophet all the Arab nations of the
world, united under Islam, became the center of
science and civilization. Algebra, chemistry,
astronomy and many other modern sciences still
bear the names given to them by their Muslim

232 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

discoverers. The schools of the Muslim world
were so far advanced that even to-day the West
resounds with the fame of the great teachers of
the Universities of Bagdad, Cairo and Granada.
The West had its dark age before it came in
touch with the East, and the European Renais-
sance started after the first contact Europe had
with the Orient. Whereas the East had its dark
age after it came into touch with the West, and
decadence in the Orient set in after its first con-
tact with Europe. The crusaders took away our
knowledge together with the riches of Haroun-
El-Rashid and of Saladin and left us discouraged,
despondent and demoralized. That it has taken
us such a long time to shake ourselves free from
the evil consequences of the invasions we suffered
is of course a little our own fault. But this is
especially due to th$ fact that the crusades, that is,
the rush of the West into the East, has continued
throughout all these centuries, giving us no peace,
no rest. Now that the Holy Lands have been
conquered by the West, let us hope that at last we
will have peace, let us hope that East and West
will at last be able to work out together the mis-
understanding they have had for hundreds of
years and that they will be able to establish once
for all the principles of unity: Oneness of God,
oneness of nature, oneness of mankind — without
which the basis of solid democracy in this world
cannot be established.

A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 233

"But tell our friends that they must not think
that during all these centuries the Muslim world
has remained absolutely stationary and has com-
pletely neglected education. The original Muslim
educational system has continued even if the
teachers were not as learned, even if a smaller
proportion of people frequented the schools and
universities.

"The Muslim educational system is based upon
the Medresses or theological colleges. There is
no Muslim community in the world which has not
its own Medresse. These institutions are sup-
ported by perpetual endowments which have been
made from time to time by the wealthy Muslims
of the community, endowments representing
mostly real estate and properties whose income is
used to keep up the Medresses where students are
housed and fed during all the years it takes them
to finish their courses in theological science. The
Medresses are absolutely free and their endow-
ments are administered by the Evkaf which is,
after all, nothing else than an enormous trust com-
pany whose duty is to take care of and develop the
properties which have been perpetually donated
for all religious and charitable purposes. Each
deed of trust has been made for a special purpose
and its beneficiary is clearly mentioned. In this
way all Medresses have their own particular source
of income as well as all the hospitals and orphan
asylums of the Evkaf. The system is excellent

234 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

and could not be improved. What could and what
should be improved is first the administration of
the Evkaf trusts, which will thus allow the mod-
ernization of all beneficiary institutions, and sec-
ond after the needed funds have been made avail-
able by such a reorganization, the educational
program of the Medresses."

Our friends wanted to know if it would be pos-
sible to give the reorganization of the Evkaf to
some American business men whose organizing
skill had been demonstrated.

"In principle there would be nothing against
this," said Hassan EfTendi, "but I am afraid that
in practise it would be impossible. Despite all
their profession of Christian love, westerners
have never undertaken anything in the East with-
out its becoming soon apparent that they had an
ulterior motive. Look at all the different foreign
educational institutions in the Orient. Are they
here just for the love of spreading education or
for trying to convert our children to their own
creed"?

As he was asked about the program of studies
followed in the Medresses Hassan Effendi ex-
plained that while the principal aim was the study
of religion Medresses were originally meant to
teach all sciences. The Koran contains not only
the principles on which the laws and the economic
structure of Muslim countries have been built,
but also the principles of astronomy — which ne-

A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 235

cessitates a deep knowledge of higher mathematics
— of natural history leading to the research of the
species, and of ancient history. Therefore, stu-
dents of the Koran have also to study all these
sciences and, as the Holy Book orders them to
go as deeply as possible into all the subjects it
mentions, the courses of Medresses should really
be equivalent to those of the highest universities.
We were all very much interested to hear that
the Koran explicitly states that the earth is round
and that together with other planets it revolves
around the sun, that other solar systems are in
existence in the universe, that life originally
started in water. Many other theories which
have been scientifically ascertained since the time
of the Prophet are also stated in the Koran al-
though the theories commonly accepted at that
time were absolutely contrary to them.

Our American friends took advantage of the
turn the conversation had taken to ask a few
questions on the Muslim religion. They wanted to
know the difference, if any, between Mahom-
medans and Muslims, what the Muslim creed was,
and what the title of Calif meant. Hassan Effendi
answered in detail all these questions and I will
try to give below if not word for word at least the
summary of his answers.

'To begin with/' said he, "the appellation of
"Mahomedan" does not exist in the East It
is only the westerners who, having called them-

236 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

selves Christians, or followers of Christ, have
named Mohamedans, the followers of Mohamed.
This, however, is as wrong and misleading as if
the Hebrew were to be called "Moseans." The
Hebrews do not follow only Moses, they believe
also in all their other prophets, beginning with
Israel. Therefore, if they were to be called Mose-
ans it would imply that they only believed in Moses
and would not be correct. This applies also to the
Muslims and to call them Mahomedan is abso-
lutely misleading. The Muslims believe in all
prophets, including all the Israelite prophets and
the Christ. So the term Mahomedan is wrong
and is not used in the East.

"We call ourselves "Muslims" which means in
Arabic, followers of Islam or followers of the
Road of Salvation. This is a better appellation
and I often wish that instead of calling themselves
by names which convey to the average people, only
an idea of a person or of a race, the different
churches had chosen to translate into their own
language the exact meaning of their appellation.
Then there would be less difference and therefore
less antagonism between religions. Take for
instance the Christians and the Muslims. If when
speaking a common language they both trans-
lated the meaning of their appellation into it in-
stead of using words of Arabic and Greek origin,
they would soon realize that their creed was identi-
cal. 'Christ' means 'Saviour.' A Christian

A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 237

therefore is a 'follower of the Saviour/ Doesn't
this term alone bring him nearer to his brother,
the 'follower of the Road of Salvation'?

"In the Koran there is absolutely no difference
between all people who believe in the One Al-
mighty God, all inclusive and powerful, no matter
by what name they call themselves. The only
difference that is made between human beings
is that all those who believe in one God are placed
in one group and all those who deny the oneness
of God, the Pagans or Idolaters, are placed in
another. It is said that God has sent from time
to time prophets to bring the people into the path
of truth, that all these prophets came with a book
within which the immutable principles of truth
were clearly enunciated, and that as truth can
only be one all the books of the prophets were the
same. Therefore, all the followers of these dif-
ferent prophets are called "people of the Book"
and they are all brothers to the Muslims. They
should be treated as such and only the Pagans
and Idolaters should be, if necessary, coerced into
recognizing the oneness of God. That this princi-
ple was most firmly established is evidenced by
the early history of Islam. In the army of the
Prophet, the army which conquered Mecca and
destroyed the idols of the Temple, Christian and
Hebrew soldiers were fighting side by side with
their Muslim brothers for the purpose of having
the oneness of God recognized by Pagans. And

238 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

the Muslims never fought the Christians until the
ignorant people of the mediaeval West, roused by
lords and barons in quest of rich spoils and ad-
venture, embarked on the Crusades for the purpose
of 'liberating' the Holy Sepulchres from the Mus-
lims. That might have been all right for the ig-
norant people of the Middle Ages, but isn't it
now time for the Christian to realize that despite
the fact that the Holy Sepulchres have been 'lib-
erated' only within the last few years from the
Muslims, despite the fact that for more than a
thousand years Jerusalem has been under the rule
of Islam, the Holy Sepulchres have fared as well
under the Muslims as the Cathedral of Saint Peter
in Rome has under Christians?

"The Muslims have always guarded the Holy
Places in Jerusalem with as much loving care and
veneration as they have guarded the Holy Places
in Mecca or in Medina. Why shouldn't they?
The Koran has taught us to venerate Jesus Christ.
We believe in His divine mission as much as we
believe in the divine mission of Mohamed. We
consider Him as much our prophet as the prophet
of the Christians. Our creed is based on this
belief and on the recognition of all the past proph-
ets. So there is really no difference between us
and the Christians as far as we are concerned. The
only differences that exist are dogmatic differences
such as those which might exist even between
two churches of the same religion. And in our

A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 239

eyes a Christian who follows the principles of
Christ and who does not deny the prophethood
of Mohamed is as much a Muslim as any one of us.

"Of course we do not consider as Christians
those who adore images. The Russian who ex-
pects an icon to perform a miracle is as much an
idolater to our eyes as any one who adores the
stone or the paint with which the statue or the
picture of a saint is made. There is no difference
between them and the pagans of yore.

"We Muslims go even farther than some
Christians in our belief in Christ. We are taught
that the Virgin Mary, in her religious ardor, was
praying the Almighty to give her a son who would
bring back into the fold his erring sheep and
that the people upon hearing this prayer criticized
and shamed her: a virgin praying for a child!
'But how little they knew the ways of God/ says
the Koran. Tn answer to the Virgin's prayer the
Almighty sent her one of His Angels in the like-
ness of a human and she begot the Christ/

"For us, God is not material. He is the All-
inclusive Spirit which permeates all nature and the
whole universe. He is the Supreme Conscious
Force, endowed with all the attributes, who rules
the universe. He is Eternal: He never begot and
never was begotten. We believe in Him and He
only do we adore. We believe in His Angels,
His Holy Books, His Prophets, and in the future
life. We believe that He ordains everything, our

24o SPEAKING 0E THE TURKS

recompenses as well as our punishments, and tKat
there is no God but He. And we believe that
Mohamed is His Messenger — who revived on this
earth, as all prophets before Him, the true religion
as taught by Abraham, and by Moses and by
Christ."

The master was silent for a few minutes. His
words which I had been translating sentence by
sentence as he delivered them, had impressed us
all so much that we kept quiet and awaited pa-
tiently for more. He looked out from the window
into the blueness of the sky. Then, turning again
to me he said with an infinite smile : "How simple
it all is, and how foolish humanity is not to
understand" !

He passed his hand over his forehead in an
effort to concentrate on more material subjects,
he sighed and said:

"These are the fundamental principles of Islam.
It does not claim to be the religion of one prophet,
but the Religion of God and therefore of all
prophets. Truth can only be one, and religion
is truth. It is the fault of men if they have divided
it into different religions, sects and churches. It
is the sin of men that they have, in doing so,
turned religion from its most useful earthly pur-
pose: that of establishing the oneness of humanity,
the brotherhood of all believers.

"The Muslim religion succeeded in doing this
during the first centuries of its inception. It

A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 241

formed the first true democracy, the first republic
of modern times: the Caliphs, the chief executives
of the Muslim world were chosen by election.
But it went even further: it created the first
League of Nations in the world — all the Muslim
states, although keeping their entire independence,
became a federation under the administration of
a single elected Caliph and extended their borders
from the Himalayas to the Atlantic. And within
their borders all those who believed in one God
lived in peace, every one prospered, science, in-
dustry and commerce flourished. Freedom of
conscience, freedom of creeds, was meticulously
observed. And Christians and Jews lived and
prospered side by side with their Muslim brothers.
The millenium would have truly arrived had the
western nations only applied these same princi-
ples within their own borders. But they were not
yet mature, they were not yet ready for liberty,
democracy and unity. So gradually they under-
mined our own institutions. Through centuries of
continuous contact and of incessant wars they
spread discord within our own ranks. We became
divided first into separate Caliphates, then into
different nations and finally into different sects.
Internal strife having set in, we were condemned to
fall sooner or later under the conquering heel of the
West. Decadence crept on the Muslim world slowly
but surely until Turkey was left alone to face the
repeated assault of the different western nations.

242 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

And the tragedy of the long agony of Turkey
which has lasted ever since the sixteenth century
is too well known by all of you to make it neces-
sary for me to repeat it.

"This agony has culminated with the general
war. And let us hope that now that the western
nations have at last obtained what they wanted —
the administration of the Holy Land by a Chris-
tian power — they will settle down to work and find
out if they have any real difference of principles
with the Muslim world. Islam has passed through
its darkest days and now it is gradually reawaken-
ing, it is becoming again conscious of the basic
truth it had reached during its first years. And
sooner or later the Almighty will find humanity
ready to reflect His own oneness. The time is near
when all believers, irrespective of denominations,
creeds or sects will establish throughout the
world a real League of Nations where Christians,
Jews and Muslims will live in peace, a real League
of all followers of Salvation based on the only
possible true democracy: the brotherhood, the
unity of men."

Hassan Effendi stopped again and looked at
our American friends who seemed to be very much
surprised. "How little do we of the West know
of the religions, the ideals and the hopes of the
East," they said; "but are we alone to blame?
Why doesn't the East send us some of its teachers,
some of its leaders to explain to us its creed and
its belief ?"

A GLIMPSE OF ISLAM 243

Hassan EfTendi smiled: "We have sent you
the message of our best leader, of our best teacher
and you have had it with you for nearly two
thousand years/' he said. "We have sent you the
message of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the
Apostle of Love and of Mercy, the greatest antag-
onist of riches and of materialism. In later years
we have sent you in person the greatest living
messenger of the East, Abdul Baha, who warned
the world years before the beginning of the war
of the great cataclysm toward which humanity
was headed and who preached unity and oneness
as the only salvation. What good did it do?
The West has always coveted the East for the
possession of the Holy Land — forgetting that
Palestine is an Eastern Land. Up to the last
century the West has always coveted the riches
of the East, forgetting that after all if the East
had all these riches it was because it had worked
for them. Since then, and taking advantage of
the decadence into which we have fallen, the West
has looked down upon the East for its lack of
ambition for the possession of material things and
has tried to prove its inferiority by claiming that
it had not contributed to modern scientific dis-
coveries, forgetting that while the West has dis-
covered the telephone, the telegram, electricity and
steam — all things which make material life worth
living — it is the East which discovered God, His
Prophets and His Holy Books — all things which

244 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

make spiritual life worth expecting. And con-
trary to the custom of the West, the East has not
commercialized its discoveries; it has given them
as a free gift to humanity. Christ was an East-
erner and He gave freely His knowledge to the
West. And now that the West has acquired our
riches and our lands we hope that it will soon
recognize that it has also our God.

"This recognition, this knowledge must, how-
ever, come to the West from within. No mat-
ter how loud we claimed it, it would not be
believed. Westerners will have to come to our
country and see for themselves. They will have
to investigate, even as you are investigating. They
will have to convince themselves that the religion
taught by the Prophet Mohamed is one and the
same with the religion taught by Christ. They
will have to realize that any one who follows
either of them is following the Road of Salvation.
And then, only then, will the peace of God descend
upon a redeemed humanity. I pray the Almighty
that this day may come soon."

And so saying Hassan Effendi rose from his
seat next to the window. It was the signal that
our audience was at an end, and we all got up. We
took leave from the master who accompanied us to
the door where he shook hands with every one
of us.

And as the door was closing we could hear his
soft voice like a blessing: "Peace be with you"!

XIV
A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA

^TO matter how short and succinct it is, an
account of the Turks as they really are and
of the Turkey of to-day would not be complete
without a description of the Turks who are now
so successfully engaged in fighting the supreme
battle of their country on the plains of Anatolia.
The foregoing pages have been devoted almost en-
tirely to the Turks of Constantinople, to their
mode of living, their ideals and ideas. But after
all Constantinople is only one city of Turkey and
Anatolia is the real backbone of the country.

From the shores of the Black Sea down to
Broussa and Smyrna, Anatolia is an armed camp,
bristling with activity. That much every one
knows. How well organized these activities are
is evidenced by the success the Turks have se-
cured against such great odds. But behind the
guns and bayonets, behind the steel wall which
has stemmed the invasion of foreigners, there
is a whole country whose borders extend as
far as Caucasia and whose influence extends be-
yond, to the arid steppes of Turkestan and the
snow-covered mountains of Afghanistan. Within

245

246 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

this country there are millions of Turks who, lie-
sides their military activities, the immediate needs
of their armies and the political requirements
of their country are living a life throbbing with
enthusiasm and hopes. This is the rejuvenated
Turkey, not intent in imitating, like a monkey,
the customs of the West or in adopting wholesale
the now antiquated political structure of Europe.
It is a Turkey which realizes fully the harm that
too indiscriminating a copying of western customs
has brought and is liable to bring to nations whose
temperament and moral standards are different,
a Turkey which is well aware that its past great-
ness in history was due exclusively to its own
unadulterated racial qualities, a Turkey which is
convinced that by reviving its own customs and
modernizing them to fit the requirements of the
time it will better and more quickly revive its
racial qualities and the grandeur of the East than
by imitating aliens; a Turkey convinced that it
should adapt and not adopt those of the western
customs which make for modern progress and
culture.

The heart and brains of this Turkey have been
set up in a small village on top of the fertile plains
which dominate the rugged mountains of Anatolia.

Thrice presumptuous enemies have tried with
machine guns, tanks and aeroplanes, with all the
destructive paraphernalia of modern armies, to
seize and destroy this village in the hope that

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 247

under its ruins would be smothered the new
Turkey. Thrice the Turks of Anatolia have an-
swered: 'Thou shalt not pass," and have pre-
served intact the sanctity of their mountains, their
plains and their country from the desecration of
its western foes. And despite all, thousands of
Turks, leaders of the Anatolian movement, con-
tinue to live, hope and work in Angora, the
village on top of the plains dominating the rugged
mountains, the free capital of a free and inde-
pendent new Turkey which ever since its inception
has been progressing in leaps and bounds toward
the leadership of the East.

An account of modern Turkey and of the mod-
ern Turks would not be complete without an
account of these Turks, their mode of living, their
ideals and ideas. And to obtain first-hand infor-
mation on them I have written to a childhood
friend of mine, Djemil Haidar Bey, who is now
visiting Angora. I have received a letter from
him and for fear of omitting the smallest detail
or detracting from its vivid pictures vibrating with
youthful vitality, I am giving here its textual
translation. I have only left out those parts
which had to do with matters of personal interest.

"I will now endeavour to give you the descrip-
tion you have asked of the Angora of to-day and
of the people who are living here. I believe you
visited Angora before the war. Anyhow you
know that it was nothing but a village which

248 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

could boast of no more than about fifteen thou-
sand inhabitants living in wooden shacks and mud
huts, good Anatolian peasants and their families,
satisfied with leading a good, peaceful life, work-
ing in their fields during the day and meeting in
prayer at night.

"The general war came and as in every other
village of Anatolia it drained Angora of all its
male inhabitants who could bear arms. And with
the signing of the armistice those of the surviving
inhabitants who were lucky enough to come back
found nearly half of their village destroyed by fire.
"It was written," they said with a sigh, and settled
down to their usual life. Little did they know
that soon the most momentous events in the Near
East were to make of their unknown little village
the powerful center of a whole nation in open
rebellion against the imperialistic desires of pow-
erful enemies.

"But somewhere in the limitless space of the
infinite the powers that rule the destinies of the
world were silently acting. Events were taking
shape. Turkish patriots, practically all members
of the House of Representatives duly elected by
the people, winced on reading the terms of the
treaty of peace which the enemies of Turkey
wanted to impose on their country. To accept them
would have been to sign the death warrant of the
country. But to refuse them and remain in Con-
stantinople was not to be thought of. Several

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 249

of their leaders who had openly given vent to
their feelings in Constantinople had been arrested
and exiled to a little island in the Mediterranean
where they could leisurely think over the emptiness
of war formulas such as the one which enunci-
ated as inalienable the rights of small nationalities.
To organize an open rebellion in Constantinople
would have been impossible; the guns of the most
powerful fleets of the world were turned on the
city.

"But the purpose of the Turkish patriots rep-
resenting the will of the people was already fixed.
One by one and unostentatiously they went as far
away as possible from Constantinople, to Erzer-
oum on the borders of Caucasia, and assembling
here a National Assembly, flung to the face of the
surprised world the slogan of the great American
patriots of 1776: "Give us Liberty, or give us
Death"!

"However, events proved that the selection they
had made for their capital was not a wise one.
The Russian Colossus now ruled by the Bol-
sheviki was shivering under a new fever of im-
perialism as acute as the endemic one it had under
the Tzars. It stretched its blood-stained claws
to the South, and gripping the independent Turk-
ish republic of Caucasia, implanted its Soviets
too dangerously near Erzeroum. The Turks of
Anatolia, the Nationalist Turks as they now called
themselves, saw the danger and shivered in dis-

250 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

may. Their organization was as yet nil, the Turk-
ish armies had been disbanded, the Turkish fleet
had been dismantled, and their capital — the brains
of New Turkey whose double national purpose was
naturally to protect Europe from a Southeastern
Bolshevik invasion and the Near East from west-
ern domination — was without guns, without can-
nons and without bayonets, at the mercy of Russia.
The dismay in the Turkish camp was, however,
of short duration. From Constantinople had ar-
rived a great man, a great leader, a great general
whose genius had already once saved Turkey at
the Dardanelles. Mustapha Kemal Pasha ap-
peared in Erzeroum and the National Assembly
unanimously elected him at once to its presidency.
He gave immediate orders and all the members
of the National Assembly, numbering nearly seven
hundred, all the civilian and military chiefs accom-
panied by their staffs, all the employees of the
temporary Government packed up their baggage
and trudged their weary way to the great Ana-
tolian plateau accessible only through easily de-
fensible mountain passes where the Sakaria river
winds its way.

"Here, at the head of one of the very few rail-
road lines in Asia Minor, practically at the same
distance from the Black Sea shores, the Russian
Soviet's borders, Mesopotamia occupied by the
British and Cilicia then occupied by the French —
all places from which an attack could have been

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 251

expected on the rear of the Nationalist armies
fighting against the Greeks on the Smyrna and the
Broussa front — was a small, dilapidated, half-
burned village, Angora. But it was the natural
center from whence the Turkish struggle for free-
dom could be better launched and could be de-
fended with the greatest probability of success.

"The Turkish Nationalists wanted to build up
their country for efficiency, not for luxury. They
had not sought and obtained power for selfish
reasons of comfort and enjoyment. So what did
they care if their capital was to be a small, uncom-
fortable village! They had left their homes, their
property and their families in Constantinople and
had come to Asia Minor to put into execution
lofty ideals. Their purpose was to set up in Ana-
tolia a new state, a new democracy, a new Gov-
ernment of the people and for the people, free and
independent — and they were firmly determined to
do this against any odds. They were firmly de-
termined not only to maintain but even to extend
the new Turkey to its proper racial and economic
limits so as to include, in fact as well as in name,
all countries and cities peopled by a Turkish ma-
jority such as Constantinople and the districts of
Thrace and Smyrna. To attain this object they
had already sacrificed their personal comfort and
their wealth. They were now ready to lead a
truly Spartan life to secure the success of their
undertaking and they did not object to selecting

252 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

Angora and to setting up here the headquarters
of their fight for liberty.

"So one fine day this half-destroyed, quiet little
village of Angora, celebrated only for its cats
and goats, was awakened by the influx of several
thousands of active, energetic and progressive men
who had decided to make of it the center of their
activities, a place destined to pass into history as
the capital of a nation capable of "getting the
goat" of the most prominent statesmen of the age
who thought — or hoped — that Turkey was dead.
Like the Phoenix of mythology, the Turks were
reborn from the ashes of this burnt down village.

"The village was swamped by the newcomers
who lodged as best they could in shacks and mud
huts. As long as they could settle down to assist-
ing the painful travail of the birth of a new gov-
ernment and of a new administration conforming
to the wishes of the people, and of an army capable
of defending the very home and the very hearth
of the nation, the newcomers did not mind. The
most prominent and influential statesmen and
military leaders were only too glad to "pile up"
under any kind of roof which could offer them
shelter.

"I purposely use the expression "pile up" as it
accurately describes what took place. As I have
said before half of the village had been destroyed
by fire so that there was barely enough place to
lodge normally about two-thirds of its own inhabi-

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 253

tants. And the newcomers numbered from six
to eight thousand. You can well imagine the
difficulties to contend with in order to lodge all
these newcomers when you realize that even now
— after nearly three years and the hasty erection
of many temporary buildings — the place is so
overcrowded that it is common to find four or
five of the most prominent citizens sharing the
same room.

"You can easily realize that under these con-
ditions there is very little social life. Besides, the
work undertaken is too strenuous, the people here
are too much occupied with their duties — and
really in earnest about accomplishing them as well
as they can — to indulge in social life. Further-
more there are very few representatives of the
fair sex in Angora, and social life without ladies
is not possible. Most of the women here are vil-
lagers or else nurses of the Red Crescent, Turkish
relief workers and ladies otherwise occupied in
assisting their husbands, fathers or brothers in
the patriotic task they have undertaken. There
are no women of leisure, no hostess who has
enough time to entertain. It can be truthfully
said that every Turkish woman now in Angora is
a little Joan of Arc. And the quarters being
so inadequate most of the women live together
and sleep together just as their men are obliged
to live and sleep together. Everyone here works
grimly with a definite purpose and faces the

254 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

realities confronting the cyclopean work of re-
creating a Nation.

"The lack of social intercourse does not how-
ever detract from the interest of the place. The
sight of the streets alone is most interesting and
edifying. Everyone is so busy and there are so
many people here that it is hardly possible to walk
leisurely in the streets during the rush hours of the
day. One is taken up and carried by the crowd.
And the crowd is the most diversified and pictur-
esque that one can see in any place, not even barring
the proverbial bridge in Constantinople. You see,
volunteers of all kinds have rushed here not only
from Anatolia, but from every Turkish country,
every Turkish village of the world and even from
the most diversified Muslim countries of Asia and
Africa. It is a real Babel, but of costumes not of
languages: every one speaks Turkish. Turkish
Anatolian peasants, with baggy trousers, wide blue
belts and thin turbans over their fez, fraternize with
Tartars and Kirghiz of Turkestan. Azerbeidjanian
and Caucasian Turks, with tight-fitting black coats
and enormous black astrakan kolpaks on their
heads — runaways from Bolshevik Russia — are
discussing the principles of real democracy as
applied to Nationalist Turkey and comparing
them with the so-called democracy of Soviet
lands. Muslim Chinamen and Hindoos are talk-
ing over the future of Turkey and Islam. All
the nations of Asia intermingle here and most

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 255

of them have official missions in Angora: Em-
bassies from Afghanistan, Beluchistan, Bokhara,
Khiva and from the different new Republics of
Turkestan, duly accredited representatives from
Persia and Azerbeidjan. The quota from Africa is
also very large and while there are no diplomatic
missions from African countries — for the simple
reason that all African countries are colonies —
many are the Fellahs from Egypt, the Algerians
and Moroccans and even the Muslim negroes of
North Africa who can be seen in the streets.

"And all this crowd is active and busy. Every-
body talks and gesticulates and rushes through the
streets to accomplish some purpose.

"The modern European touch is brought by
the Turks from the big centers, Nationalist leaders
who have come here from Constantinople and
other large cities, clad in sack suits or in uni-
forms cut on western patterns, but all wearing
the black fur kolpak which has replaced through-
out the country the red felt fez as national head-
gear.

"In the village proper there is not a house which
does not shelter more people than it has rooms.
So quite a few of the people who now live in
Angora have been quartered in small farmhouses
around the country and are obliged to commute
every day to and from their business. There are
of course no suburban trains or street cars and
the "commuters" are obliged to use carriages as

256 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

all the automobiles — mostly Fords — are being used
for military purposes or for transporting travellers
and goods from villages to villages. The carriage
is therefore the only means of conveyance in
Angora. "Carriage" is, of course, a rather com-
plimentary term: true that they have four wheels
and are drawn by horses, but they generally have
no springs, and two boards running parallel to
each other and facing the horse are used as seats.
From their wooden roofs hang coloured curtains
and the occupants are vigourously shaken over
the uneven pavement of the streets.

"There are only a very few shops, but no one
has time or leisure to shop. The strict necessities
of life can be obtained at the open counters of the
bazaars or markets and if they are not to be
found there one has either to do without or to
import them from Constantinople or from some
other city. Amusement places are absolutely non-
existent: no theaters, not even movies. And of
course no saloons or bars since Prohibition is
vigourously enforced in Anatolia. There are one
or two coffee-houses where a few old native
peasants sit peacefully and, over a cup of coffee
or a smoke of the 'narghile/ talk of the good old
days. The hostelry of the place has its lounge
turned into a dormitory. Travellers are at times
obliged to sleep even on the steps of the stairs, so
no space can be allotted for recreation. Besides it
would be useless ; no one here has time for amuse-

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 257

inent or recreation and if you ask any one how
he passes his time he will be able to answer you
with a single word : 'Work.' Every one is at work
to save the life of the country, every one is
endeavouring to improve the community, every
one is engaged in assisting in some way or other
the Government and the nation.

'The offices of the Government are quartered in
the largest buildings. An old barrack shelters
most of them. Its enormous rooms have been
partitioned into offices with a long corridor run-
ning between them. Every office has a door on this
corridor. On some of these doors there are in-
scriptions indicating the names of the departments
which abide therein. The Department of Foreign
Affairs, the Department of Commerce, the Trea-
sury Department, the Department of Agriculture
and all other civilian departments are located in
this building.

"Another enormous building, a former school,
shelters all the departments pertaining to every
activity necessary to the national defense. Its
offices are arranged on the same style as those for
civilian activities. Thus the Nationalist Govern-
ment has, fittingly, differentiated its war activities
from its administrative activities. The depart-
ments which are engaged in constructive work,
whose activities will secure the nation's develop-
ment and progress are completely separated from
those whose duty is to secure the national defense.

258 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

"The two most active civilian departments, or
rather the two departments to which the National
Government attaches the greatest importance
among those engaged in constructive work are
the Department of Public Education and the
Department of Hygiene. And if — as all of us here
are absolutely convinced — the programs of these
two departments are strictly adhered to, Anatolia
will be in a very few years the best educated and
the most hygienic country in the Old World.

"The Government conducts its business in the
most democratic way possible. The different heads
of departments are members of the National
Assembly and are, therefore, all chosen directly
by the people. They are delegated to manage the
departments by the vote of all the members of
the Assembly. Each head of department is in-
dividually responsible to the Assembly for the good
conduct and administration of his department.
He is removable by the vote of the Assembly which
immediately elects his successor. The heads of
the departments have their private offices whose
doors are always open to all. As the Government
is of the people and for the people any citizen
who desires to see one of his deputies' concerning a
matter connected with his department has the
right to come in and is received at once without
any formalities. But he has to attend immediately
to his business and then he has to leave. Effi-
ciency is the slogan of the National Government

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 259

and for this purpose all red tape has been com-
pletely eliminated. No loitering, no 'manana'
policy is indulged in. Things that have to be done,
have got to be done immediately and no one has
the right to interfere for the pleasure of following
the dictates of a set routine. Truly this is the
most efficient form of government that I have ever
seen. '

"The National Assembly is located in the only
really attractive and modern building of Angora.
It has been especially erected to house the Parlia-
ment and has a large meeting-room, a reading-
room and private offices for the representatives
of the people. While it is not luxurious, it is
as comfortable and as serviceable as need be. It
is situated on a large square not far from the
station.

"And now that you have an accurate idea of
the general aspect of the capital, now that you
know that this is no place for amusements or
social activities, you will want to know something
more about the people, their ideals and their aims.

"I think that, for all these purposes, I might
as well give you a description of the two principal
figures who to-day stand out distinctly as the two
leaders of the Turkish Nationalist Government;
the two national heroes who personify better than
any one else the spirit which animates so power-
fully Anatolia and the whole Turkish race. One
is a man and the other a woman. You surely

26o SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

have already guessed: I am referring to Musta-
pha Kemal Pasha, the undisputed leader of Turk-
ish manhood, and to Halide Hanoum, the equally
peerless leader of modern Turkish women.

"As you know, Mustapha Kemal Pasha is not
only the promoter, but the soul and the brain of
the new Turkey. That he represents exactly all
Turkish aspirations and embodies the ideals of
modern Turkey is best proved by the fact that
upon his arrival in Anatolia he was elected by the
wish of the people to the Presidency of the Na-
tional Assembly, the highest executive function,
and to the Field Marshalship of the National
Army, the highest military function. And he has
been ever since maintained in both these most
responsible positions by the general consensus of
the whole nation.

"And this has been done almost against the per-
sonal wishes of Mustapha Kemal Pasha. He is
neither ambitious nor desirous of holding power.
In fact he is what might be called a self-appointed
'power prohibitionist.' And if he remains in power
it is exclusively because the people want him to
and, being a convinced democrat, he bows his
head to the wish of the people. Of course, at the
beginning of the movement, when the national
aspirations of the Turks sought some one to form-
ulate them and to organize the country, Mustapha
Kemal Pasha took the lead without shunning its
responsibilities and without a second's hesitation

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 261

on account of the price that he personally would
have to pay should he fail in his undertaking. He
set to work with the indomitable patriotic courage
which marks national heroes.

"His energy, his straightforwardness, his
frankness and the rapidity with which he made
decisions coupled to the firmness with which
he saw that decisions, once made, were immediately
executed became apparent even during the first
weeks of his administration and gradually won
him the full confidence and devotion of his people.
This would have been his opportunity had he
desired to establish a dictatorship, had he wanted
to place his personal interests above the interests
of his country, had his democratic utterances been
of the lips and not of the heart. During the first
months of the national movement Turkey was
taking the chance of seeing its individual freedom
trampled once more under the booted feet of an
Abdul-Hamid or an Enver ... if the leader
who was offering himself had been any one else
than Mustapha Kemal. But the Pasha had given
a few years before the proof of his matchless
patriotism and abnegation by stepping back into
an inconspicuous command after having saved
his country by a series of victories at the Darda-
nelles, and therefore the country felt pretty safe
in confiding its destinies to the hands of Musta-
pha Kemal Pasha.

"The events have proved that this confidence

262 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

could not have been better placed. Under the very
guns of Turkey's enemies he organized the na-
tional resistance and changed the prevailing state
of nervousness and despondency into an intelligent
state of national efficiency and enthusiasm. Start-
ing with a handful of followers he opened new
horizons to the Turkish people, discouraged and
broken-hearted by their previous utter collapse.
While the nation lay prostrated at the mercy of
its enemies, he stepped forth and showed lo the
Turks the silver lining behind the threatening
clouds and demonstrated once more to the world
that a nation which is led properly and has a will
to live is unconquerable.

"Mustapha Kemal Pasha had a double duty
to perform. Turkey disarmed and bound hand
and foot, her capital occupied by the enemy, her
Government departments and administration com-
pletely disorganized, had to regain her indepen-
dence and needed therefore not only a capable
military chief but also a capable organizer and
statesman. Mustapha Kemal Pasha rose to the
occasion and while he was organizing on one hand
the military resources of his country, while he
was arming and training thousands of recruits
and building up factories to furnish them with
guns and ammunition and to clothe them as best
he could, he was on the other hand helping the
National Assembly to formulate a new constitu-
tion, to make a new form of government — a sort

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 263

of republic fitted to the peculiar requirements of
Turkey — based on the broadest and most practical
principles of democracy.

"And as soon as his military victories secured
the existence of his country and permitted him
to work on more permanent matters he turned
completely to the National Assembly — resigning
his commission as Commander-in-Chief — and de-
voted his attention to the consolidation of the new
form of Government and to the perfection of its
administration.

"But as the enemy, once more encouraged and
equipped by powerful western powers, again took
the offensive and advanced into Anatolia, burning
villages, killing civilians and massacring old men,
women and children, the National Assembly
turned again to Mustapha Kemal Pasha and
electing him once more Commander-in-Chief, asked
him for new victories — and Turkey did not have
to wait long to have her wishes satisfied by the
military genius of the Pasha.

"Ever since the definite organization of the
National Assembly, Mustapha Kemal Pasha has
spent all his energies in investing it with the pow-
ers he held in his own hands. He has methodically
and without faltering worked to transfer his own
unlimited powers as Chief Executive and Com-
mander to the duly elected representatives of the
people. This process of self -restriction has gone
so far that to-day the Turkish National Assembly

264 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

is endowed with far greater powers and preroga-
tives than any House of Representatives or Parlia-
ment of any country. It has all the sovereign pre-
rogatives including those of declaring war and
concluding peace. It elects its own members to the
different administrative functions of the Cabinet
and removes them whenever it sees fit. And all
this thanks to the restriction of his own powers
by Mustapha Kemal Pasha.

"In doing this the Turkish hero had a double
purpose: he knows that the ideas and ideals he
is fighting for are not personal to him but are
shared by the whole nation and he wants to prove
this to the world — on the other hand, a true demo-
crat at heart, he wants the entire nation, through
its duly elected representatives, to be enabled to
handle its own destinies as it sees fit. Sure of
final military success, he desired to increase within
the nation the number of statesmen capable of
perpetuating indefinitely the life of a rejuvenated
Turkey. And through painstaking efforts, through
sharing gradually his own responsibilities with
members of the National Assembly he has created
a nucleus of statesmen enjoying the national con-
fidence and capable of commanding international
esteem, who will be able to guide their country
along the road of progress.

"All the actions of Mustapha Kemal Pasha
have been dictated by his peerless patriotism, his

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 265

genuine spirit of abnegation and his absolute un-
selfishness.

"This modern Turkish Washington lives with
his civilian and military household in a little house
near the station and opposite the building of the
National Assembly. This house, which is sur-
rounded by a garden with big trees and flowers,
was originally the house of the station master.
It has eight or ten rooms, small and unpretentious,
soberly furnished throughout. The only luxury in
the house is a writing-desk almost as large as the
room it occupies. At this table Mustapha Kemal
Pasha spends all his time when he is not at the
front or on military and administrative tours of
inspection, or working at the National Assembly,
It is in this den that the General works from
early in the morning until late at night, without
any distraction, continuously and painstakingly
striving to bring about his dream — not a dream of
personal ambition or of national conquests, but
a dream of freedom and of independence for a
people— his people — whose one aim is to remain
master of its own home.

"The leader of Turkish women, Halide Edib
Hanoum, is in her own field as great a figure as
Mustapha Kemal Pasha. Her talents are most
diversified and she has, like Mustapha Kemal
Pasha, a very strong will for putting through any-
thing she undertakes. Although" she is still
young she has been for many years at the head

266 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

of the movement for the emancipation of Turk-
ish women. You probably remember, as I do,
that she first attracted public attention when her
verses were published. It created quite a stir in
Turkey as she was the first Turkish poetess, at
least the first who came out under her own name
and bowed to the public through her books. I
still remember the first time I saw her, in
the good old pre-war days in the summer of 191 3.
I had gone with some friends to the Sweet Waters
of Asia on the Bosphorus which were at that time
the fashionable 'rendezvous' on Friday afternoons.
The little stream bordered with old trees and green
meadows was crowded with rowboats and caiks
leisurely gliding on its transparent waters. Sud-
denly among the boats I saw a slender skiff with
two rowers wearing embroidered Oriental liveries.
At the stern a young girl was sitting, her veil
a little more transparent than it was usually worn
at the time and her dark brown locks showing
a little more than those of her sisters. She held
a white embroidered parasol daintily in her hand
to shelter her from the strong rays of the summer
sun. Her pensive black eyes were beautiful. Her
boat crossed ours and the vision had disappeared
in a few seconds. I held my breath and asked my
companions who she was, and when I heard that it
was 'Halide Hanoum, the poetess' I was more im-
pressed than ever, tittle did I guess that the next
time I would see Her it would be here in Angora.

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 267

"Of course you know her career during tliese
pre-war days and possibly also during the war.
She managed always to be a little ahead of her
sisters, the other Turkish women who were clam-
ouring for the emancipation of their sex. She
was the first one who gradually and almost im-
perceptibly lifted the veil of her contemporaries,
she was the first Turkish woman who engaged in
newspaper polemics and addressed public meetings.
Even in those days she was a leader but she had
not yet come into her own. It took the national
epopee of Anatolia to bring out in Her all the
mature attributes of a really great woman, a
leader among leaders, a practical and rational
woman of action even though extremely advanced.

"She was, I think, the first woman to come to
Angora. Communication with Constantinople be-
ing then interrupted she had to cross in carriage,
on foot or on horseback the mountains of Ana-
tolia. The hardships she went through would
make the subject of a long novel. During nearly
four weeks — the time it took her to reach Angora
— not once did she find a decent bed to rest in,
and even her husband, Adnan Bey, was exhausted
when they arrived here. But it did not take her
long to recover and within a short time she was
engaged body and soul in organizing educational
campaigns throughout Anatolia and in teaching
the peasant women all the different ways in which
they could be useful to their country.

268 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

"At the first vacancy in the National Assembly
she became a candidate and went personally before
her constituency. She was, of course, elected
by an overwhelming majority and of course she
distinguished herself in her parliamentary work.
In fact she criticised so well the educational sys-
tem then in vogue and offered such excellent con-
structive suggestions that her colleagues of the
National Assembly elected her Secretary of Public
Education in the Cabinet.

"She was successfully holding this position when
the enemy started his spring drive and the Com-
mander-in-Chief issued a proclamation calling un-
der the colours all persons who could hold a gun.
She immediately took advantage of this to establish
once more the equal rights of women: on the plea
that, being a huntress she not *only could hold a
gun but also knew how to use it, she enrolled in
the army and won the grade of non-commissioned
officer for bravery on the field, at the battle of
Sakaria. After the successful repulse of the enemy
and when the armies were disbanded for the
winter she returned to Angora where she is now
completing and perfecting the organization of
Turkish women for educational, racial and hy-
gienic betterment.

"Halide Edib Hanoum lives in a little cottage, a
farm, situated at about one hour's ride from the
village and which is reached through a long, dusty
road. Nestled within a bouquet of trees and at a

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 269

short distance from a clear little stream which
sings its way through rocks and flowers, stands
the rustic cottage of Halide Hanoum. It has a
nice little orchard and, further back behind the
trees is a pasture where she keeps a few cows.
It is an ideal place for this loving and beloved
woman leader, for here she can withdraw — when
she finds time from her various occupations — and
ride or hunt or else write, according to her whim
of the moment.

"The house is furnished scrupulously in Turkish
style — the Turkish style of villages: no rich em-
broideries and beautiful hangings, but simple
divans lined up against the whitewashed walls,
one or two carpets, and a copper 'brazero' in the'
living-room. And of course books, a large collec-
tion of books in every language — English, French
and German which she speaks remarkably well —
and a few hunting guns.

"The last time I saw her she was returning
from a ride on horseback as I entered the gate.
And I1 cannot say which of the two pictures is
most striking: that of a young girl in a rowboat
on the Sweet Waters of Asia, or that of a woman,
slim and athletic, gracefully riding astride a
beautiful horse, her uncovered face proudly erect
and her features, now more mature, proclaiming
the mind and the will of a leader!

"She asked me to tea, and in her simple little
drawing-room we sat with her husband and lis-

270 SPEAKING OF THE TURKS

tened. She talked to us of her aspirations and
hopes — not social aspirations, to which all young
and attractive women are entitled, but the aspira-
tions and hopes of seeing one day soon the Turkish
women, her sisters, recognised as the most pro-
gressive and advanced women of the world and
pointed out, even in foreign countries, as the
models of true womanhood."

Little can be added to this picture given by
Djemil Haidar Bey on the life in the Nationalist
capital and the organization of New Turkey.
Since his letter was written events have proved
that he had in no way exaggerated the efficient
work and the patriotism of the Turks in Anatolia.
They have succeeded in accomplishing the impos-
sible. Their countrymen all over the Old Ottoman
Empire as well as in "the confines of Asia share
fully their joy as they had shared their sorrows
and pains. We are all proud of the unequalled
accomplishments of our people and we firmly be-
lieve, no matter what the immediate future has
in store for us of further struggles and further
sufferings — no matter how vicious a propaganda
our enemies may have recourse to so as to mini-
mize the effect and results of our victories — that
New Turkey, a rejuvenated nation which has
given such patent proofs of its unconquerable
spirit of self-sacrifice and indomitable will to live,
a people which, despite the most insurmountable
obstacles thrown in its way by unfair enemies, has

A VOICE FROM ANATOLIA 271

succeeded in emancipating itself from all political,
economic, religious and personal prejudices — will
shatter completely its material and moral chains
and continue its advance — free and independent
— on the road to culture, progress and civilization.

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OVERDUE.

uao gg 1940

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SEP 11 1973

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